Child of Love and War
by NeroJove
Summary: In a nearby future, an unfamiliar enemy with familiar tactics makes itself known in Tokyo, and the Sailor Soldiers - now grown women - will have to ally themselves with new soldiers and find a way to possibly defeat this new opponent. Now, if only their new allies weren't their own daughters.
1. Act One: Eri, Sailor Eros

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Sailor Moon, Takeuchi Naoko does for many, _many_ , various reasons.

So, without further ado, here's the promised companion piece to my one-shot, _Risa_ the first chapter of _Child of Love and War_!

11/27/15 - I've decided to go over this peice, re-edit it to my current writing style, and fix it's errors as of now. So, if things seem altered, don't fret, it's just me being as indecisive as I am at times!

* * *

Dimensions were always deemed as a problem for her, perhaps it was due to the fact that she had to give up nearly everything that she had known to protect them or it was possibly that they were quite frankly, for better terms, a pain in her arse. If anyone were to ask her, she'd tell them, "I bear it because I must." Or some sort of Sailor Pluto styled remark that she—albeit discreetly—did just for the annoyed reactions; she reveled in it, as messed up as that sounded. Though, the duty topic wasn't exactly the case at first though; it never was to begin with. Long ago—far enough that she couldn't exactly remember, probably due to the annoyances of reincarnation—she had loved another, whether in a romantic light or not. But, as she said before, it was far too long ago for her to recall, so thus, she was fighting for a cause she didn't seem to quite remember or understand.

Sailor Regulus signed and ran a gloved hand over the black stone that lay embedded her golden Sailor Soldier Tiara. Her uniform was much different than the Sailor Soldiers' own. Rather than a casual sailor uniform though, she wore an outfit that was identical to the fictional Allen Walker's own from the series _D-Gray Man_ that hailed from her own dimension. Her weapon on the other hand, was different than the Outer Sailor Soldiers' too; it was a silver-bladed katana, with the same colored hilt. It acted as a key of sorts, to unlock the Dimensional Doors that led to any dimension of her choosing.

 _It got lonely after a while here though_ , Regulus mused. After spending years after years there, she grew to gain a great sense of loneliness and sorrow, most likely due to only communicating with one person her whole time there. After her apparent rebirth from death during the Silver Millennium—according to her former feline advisor, Sol—she had awakened as Sailor Regulus and stood in this void of nothingness. Ever since then, it had been nothing but cold loneliness and sorrow; it was a burden that she was only allowed to carry.

Physically speaking, Regulus looked like any normal fifteen year old teenager that stood at five foot eight, but in reality, she was over four hundred years old. Throughout her spanning lifetime, she had experienced her allies die and be reborn again; watching it over and over again was emotionally taxing, and after a time, physically. In all honesty, she was sick of it; she was sick of it all.

A tall shadowed figure appeared in the distance, the cape from his tuxedo outline blowing in the winds helplessly. When he was in sight, she noted that he was tanner than usual; his skin had almost a coppery look to it. His messy jet black hair whipped around as the winds increased tenfold and his sea green eyes were full of determination. "Regulus, Sol has detected something in another dimension; it could pose as a threat," he began. "I don't think you'll like it at all."

"What is it?" Regulus demanded. As much as it pained her, she had to go through with her duty, even if she didn't like it. Emotions could _never_ get in the way of duty; duty always came first, and she wasn't about the change that at any approaching moment, much less this current one. "Tell me Daisuke."

"I didn't want to be the one to tell you." Daisuke's face fell. "But, the Moon Princess' dimension is in peril; we believe it's an alternate rift."

"Alright," Regulus said finally as she nodded slowly, running a hand through her chin-length brown hair. "I'll deal with it. Go back to your home, Daisuke."

"Okay." Daisuke frowned visibly, and before he disappeared he said, "But be careful, alright? I don't want you to get hurt. Believe it or not, we still care for you a lot, _Miyuki_."

Regulus scowled at her former name. She had given up that name the time she became a guardian; she hadn't heard it uttered in over a hundred years or something in that matter. Given that information, why say it to her now? And, she knew he and her former allies still cared about her immensely, so, again, why say it to her now?

"I care for you guys a lot too," Regulus murmured after a time, her brown eyes adverted to the white-tiled flooring. She was aware of some of the tears that had fell from her eyes, and wiped them away; there wasn't time for emotions, only the mission at hand. But still, she couldn't stop them, as much as she wished that she could. "More than you all will ever know."

~O~O~O~O~

Eri's fourteen-year old eyes shot open as an alarm clock went of melodically. She immediately jumped up from her bed frantically and bolted from the room as the sun's rays shone through her faint gray curtains. The time read _8:15,_ and that wasn't a good sign; it wasn't one at all.

"Who would've though a daughter of the all-mighty Hino Rei would be like Usagi with sleeping?" she heard her mother, Minako, comment enthusiastically.

If Eri were to be compared to her mothers, she had Minako's face, blue eyes, and thick locks, but she had Rei's colored hair, the certain dullness to her eyes that seemed to fit with her image, and inherited supernatural abilities, maybe they were even possible heightened more so than her mother. Although, in contrast, she was neither motivated to do well in school nor had no care about it; education just seemed to be _there_ , just not something she had to prioritize over things she considered important—which were a lot, much to Rei's dismay.

"She's your daughter too, don't forget," Rei replied. "Your Sailor V days weren't exactly all full of attendance graces, according to Artemis."

"What was that supposed to mean, Rei?" Minako inquired, placing her hands over her hips. "I'll have you know that was years ago! If you haven't noticed, while you're off at your office, I'm working hard as a housewife!"

"As much as I'd like to argue otherwise, you're right," Rei sighed in defeat before bringing her wife into her willing arms. "And that's one of the many reasons why I love you; you work as hard as I do for our family."

"You're so sappy at times Rei," she heard Minako chuckle wholeheartedly, but oblige all the same. "I guess the married life had changed you for the better."

Rather than stick around and experience her mothers flirt—or _whatever_ that was—and possibly do anything more intimate than that, Eri waved to her parents briefly in a 'goodbye' gesture attempt before grabbing a piece of toast and darting from the apartment quickly. She couldn't afford to be late once again, after all; it was either that or evil demonic nuns trying to murder her hands with a wooden ruler. _Wait a second,_ she began mentally. _Isn't that illegal or something? I mean, we're in the twenty-first century for God's sake!_

Eri was running at top speed down the streets of Tokyo. She'd be lucky if she were to even make it to the academy, much less make on time. She had just hoped that luck would indeed have been in her side that day rather than not at all.

Or it was the dreaded 'murderous evil demon nuns with dangerous wooden weapons' option.

~O~O~O~O~

She had been lucky to make it on time, but the class proved to be the unlucky part of her boring and drawn out day, curtesy of Japan's misfortune of suffering from natural disasters, like any other island or possibly a large mass of land in the world.

After adjusting her T*A Academy uniform, Eri sighed out of boredom. At the moment, some sister was going on about the Kamaishi earthquake that had occurred only days before. Of course, she felt bad for the innocents who had experienced it, but she had already gotten the lecture in her earlier classes and briefly from her mothers' too; quite frankly, it was getting quite monotonous and tedious.

Eri sighed inaudibly and narrowed her gaze ever so slightly. If her mother had taught her anything, it was that auras could be a gate to someone else's personality, motives, and emotions. If that were the case, then the sister that was lecturing at the moment has had an acquaintance or two that were wounded in the Kamaishi earthquake or possibly worse, so thus she felt like explaining it thoroughly. That didn't exactly mean that Eri enjoyed it though; it was quite the opposite, actually, and she wished it would cease to continue instantly or that she would spontaneously combust so the pain and to rite of the dullness would end at that precise moment.

She attempted to suppress a yawn. How long has the lecture been going on for; ten, twenty minutes? In all honesty, Eri—and probably the entire class too, if she were to guess—had lost count a long time ago; no doubt due to the disinterest nearly all of the student's—including her—held.

Eri bit back a yawn-in-progress once again. If there was anything she hated more than brussel sprouts in life, it had to be drawn out lectures, and Sister Watanabe's lecture was no exception; not that it could ever be, anyway. Well, maybe it _could_ be an exception if a zombie apocalypse overrun by fluffy pink unicorns and Tsukino Kousagi's more annoying clones with lasers coming from their eyes and long sharp talons were to occur; in other words, it was logistically impossible for nature to naturally achieve such cruelty.

"So you hate this too Eri?" one of her classmates and best friend—identified as Fukui Kumiko—whispered in a hushed tone. "I mean, this is _so_ boring!"

Eri rolled her eyes. Kumiko was right in a sense, but in her opinion, it wasn't _extremely_ boring, just too long and maybe mildly passable at most. She whispered in response, "I know, but we can't get out of it—and Sister Watanabe _really_ needs to get this out of her system; she had someone she knew injured in it."

"How do you know that?" Kumiko asked. "Did you ask her; hear an insane rumor, or something like that? How?"

"No I didn't; it was written all over her aura." Eri shook her head, and Kumiko shot up, shouting out of shock, "HINO, NO WAY!"

Sister Watanabe narrowed her eyes. "Leave the classroom now, just the two of you; we will have a little _chat_ after class ends."

Eri lowered her head before glaring at Kumiko briefly as the shuffled out of the said classroom. Her forming scowl began to consume all other expressions from her face from both embarrassment and slight anger. _That girl has a huge mouth,_ she thought. _It's much bigger than Mom's was when she was a teenager, and_ much _more dangerous and trouble prone; she really needs to try to fix it._

Of course, Eri would never think to voice her opinion out loud; she couldn't bear to hurt Kumiko's feelings, as irritating as she may be at every given passing second. If she did hurt Kumiko's feelings, her parents would probably scold—no _murder_ —her for doing so and she'd feel extraordinarily guilty. Her mother, Rei, had always taught her to treat others—especially others that she cared for, as annoying as they may be— with elegance, politeness and respect, not the opposite; it was an unsaid rule that was always expected to be followed.

"At least Sister Watanabe didn't kill us this time," Kumiko began, albeit very quietly so she didn't disturb their instructor and get them into even deeper trouble. "Am I right or what?"

"Be quiet," Eri hissed as she squeezed her eyes and tightened the red ribbon that was tied securely in her hair. _For once, you idiot,_ she added mentally. Kumiko would surely get them in trouble, like always, sadly. "She may overhear you."

"What might I overhear exactly, young ladies?" Watanabe asked—all to sweetly, if someone were to ask Eri—whilst looming over the shoulders menacingly. "I hope it's not terribly urgent to postpone our little chat."

 _Sailor Eros,_ a slightly deep feminine voice whispered from the back of her mind. _You need to find us; our allies need your aid greatly!_

Eri blinked at the thought while her instructor was lecturing her about the importance of education, or something in that matter; honestly, she had no clue. Her attention was barely on the second lecture of the day, but rather on the confusion of the voice she had just heard; she knew it _definitely_ wasn't hers. Was she just imagining things, or was her sixth sense acting up again, like it had all those times before when she got bored?

"—I'm going to call your parents, since this is the eighth time this happened this week."

Eri froze at Sister Watanabe's statement. There was no doubt about it, she was the pure definite definition of _screwed_ ; her mothers would surely murder her after that phone call would be given, and she was completely and utterly certain about that.

Eri noticed that Kumiko had paled considerably too, and she smirked mentally at the realization. _Serves you right Kumiko, you got us into this mess, after all._

Her thoughts then travelled back to her parents. They would definitely give her a scolding—if the hadn't killed her first, of course—at this second rule-break, that little was evident. She could deal with Youma—as she was a Sailor Soldier too—and nasty mother-stealing witches (long story, like her whole Sailor Soldier identity), but Rei and rule-breaking was never a good mix; it was one Eri wanted to stay away from, and planned to do so for life, until this very incident had destroyed her hopes and dreams for the future.

 _They have to be kidding me though!_ With the slightest scowl spreading across her lips, she wanted to give a piece of her mind to Kumiko and Watanabe. It was all Kumiko's fault since she initiated the conversation and the shout that interrupted the lesson, not Eri's own; so why should _she_ be given the harsh consequences? Wasn't it fair and just for _Eri_ to be left alone for being wrongly communicated to during class and _Kumiko_ scolded for being the one talking practically the whole time, of one were to discount Sister Watanabe's lecture?

She sighed as the Watanabe went on and on about their wrongs and how it was a sin, but she wasn't paying attention at all. She had more important things on her mind, after all; some of them included the next volleyball match that she had recently heard about or whether her family was going to have pizza that night or not. Yes, she had _much_ more important things in her mind than a simple scolding by her unjust instructor.

However, with her sixth sense nagging her relentlessly, Eri had a good feeling that today wasn't going to be exactly the luckiest or most normal day that she was ever going to experience in her short lifetime of fourteen years. _Well, at least it's a Friday._

~O~O~O~O~

Groaning, Daisuke ran a hand through his hair and smooth out the Moto-Azabu uniform that he was currently adorning. Of course, he could've taken the easy way out and avoid aiding Regulus like she had suggested, but he couldn't; he cared too much for her—almost like a sister of sorts—to abandon her like that. Just as a brother wouldn't leave his sister to deal with a life-threatening task, Daisuke could _never_ leave Regulus, no matter how much she complained about his decision.

He studied his surroundings. The Tokyo sidewalk was less crowded than usual and the sky slightly dimmed, he noted; it was odd that it would be like that, since it was only a quarter past three in the afternoon at the moment and students should've been getting out of school by then, just as he had only half an hour before. _Well_ , he thought humorously, albeit with some—if not non-existent—shame. _More like snuck off than anything._

Daisuke groaned once again. How long has it been since he had a _normal_ school day—one that didn't involve him scheming on how to defeat the newest enemy or how Regulus was fairing? Of course, had had only known the name that she had went by in their past lives rather than her current reincarnation, if she even had one that was.

"Upperclassman!" a younger boy with messy curly white hair and brilliant blue eyes greeted enthusiastically as he waved while running up to Daisuke.

Hayashi Arata as a boy who was two grades below his own, as he was a first year and junior high and Daisuke were in his second year of high school. Arata oddly always wore a navy blue band around her head, as if attempted to conceal something. Daisuke ran a hand though his hair. Arata was odd but had a bright outlook on life; that much was most definitely certain, if not obviously tangible, at most.

Suddenly, two girls both wearing T*A Academy uniforms passed by them, chatting elegantly, as if to maintain a good image for their school, or some reason like that, and they both had took keep their jaws from falling agape.

Daisuke immediately felt his mouth begin to dry as he attempted to keep it closed. _They're beautiful and those uniforms make them look so sexy,_ he thought as he began wiping the blood that was leaking from his nose due to his newly formed nosebleed. _I have to stop being such a hentai; the mission always comes before emotions!_ He groaned outwardly for the third time that day and ran a hand through his hair. _How old are they? I mean, they can't be a day over fourteen! What's wrong with me? Well, if Regulus had caught me coming here, this wouldn't have ever happened in the first place! Yeah, I'm just going to go with that._

"Kumiko, why are they staring at us?" the raven haired girl of the two inquired, motioning to their dumbstruck forms.

"We're good looking and they're hormonal teenage boys," the wavy brown haired girl—who was most likely identified as Kumiko—giggled with her brown eyes sparkling. She went to push her glasses up the bridge of her nose, as they had fallen down an inch or two. "And besides Eri, they're really, _really_ , cute, too!"

"Oh please." Eri rolled her eyes. "Spare me the large amount of teenage girl talk about boys. Mom finally stopped doing that with idols after Mama and I had to get it through her thick skull to stop doing it all the time; just like idols, I don't need your intake on boys."

"Aw, just because you have two mothers doesn't mean that you have to ruin my fun!" Kumiko pouted, although a small smile was growing despite her—undoubtedly faked—annoyance.

 _Okay, rewind._ Daisuke regained his composure, although he had a feeling that Arata wasn't even close to doing so yet. _She has lesbian parents? That's kind of hot._ He honestly felt disgusted by his last thought. If they're together, they obviously love each other immensely, and he had no problem with that, in a matter of fact, Daisuke was a supporter of the LGBT communities of the world himself. They probably just didn't have to intentions to be on display so they could be subject several teenage boys' fantasies, though; he shouldn't have been thinking that, but unfortunately, it was inevitable, no matter how much he was against it. _Damn hormones!_

"Seriously though, stop staring!" Eri snapped with an annoyed glare, in which Daisuke suspected had to be a hereditary trait, with its intensity and all. "It's extremely uncomfortable and creepy!"

"I-I'm sorry!" That previous statement seemed to snap Arata out of it and cue him into apologizing, Daisuke noticed, and he suspected that his friend was staring at and referring to Eri entirely, but was doing so not of a crush or attraction of any sorts, but of something much more deeper and mysterious, in which Daisuke couldn't exactly comprehend at that present moment.

Daisuke's eyes unexpectedly narrowed. Eri's aura was a strange black color; it weirdly changed to shades dark of red and orange at times. The only person he knew that had that same colored aura was Regulus, and even so, it was extremely rare for someone to have that specific aura. He immediately became suspicious. _What if she's the enemy we've become aware of? What if she's dangerous?_

"There one of them goes again with the zoning off," Eri groaned, and Daisuke noted that groaning seemed to be popular that hour. She spun on her heels and Kumiko readied herself to follow, like an overly obedient dog to its master. "Let's go Kumiko."

And with that, they were gone in an instant.

Daisuke placed a hand to his chin. He needed to consult his fellow allies quickly; the sooner the better, he mused. Of course, there was also the matter of studying Eri and then confronting her about the conflict. "I need to tell Regulus about this . . ."

"Wait, Regulus—as in the star?" Arata finally piped up after the whole Eri-Kumiko ordeal. "Why would you need to tell _a star_ about girls?"

"Uh, it's nothing—just a strange fetish, yeah that's it!" Daisuke jumped. _Note to self, never speak out loud ever again._ "It's my strange thing, you know?"

"You're weird, Upperclassman." Arata shook his head. "I'm going now, see you!"

Waving sheepishly, Daisuke watched as his companion left. He then scowled at his previous slip-up. _I have to stop talking to myself out loud or someone will end up finding out about Regulus and I, or think that I belong in a slammer,_ he fumed mentally, both angrily and with a slight bitterness, the latter confusing him immensely, but not enough for him to really think about it more than once. "It needs to stop!"

"Mommy, why is that older boy talks my to himself like he's mad?" a young brown-headed child questioned his mother curiously, his innocent hazel eyes shining. He wore a plain white t-shirt, denim jeans, and worn dirty sneakers that were obviously a pearly white color long before the sneaker abuse had clearly started.

"C'mon," his mother urged insistently, staring at Daisuke like he was an infectious disease of some sorts. She wore a business suit and held her brown hair in a tight bun. Her eyes, unlike her son's, were anything by shining or innocent, as he observed; from what he could tell, she was stuck up and bitter, probably due to a negative life even that had most likely occurred previously in her lifetime. "Let's go home Natsuki, _now_."

"Alright Mommy," Natsuki said as his mother led him away, although, he still seemed very perplexed by the looks of it.

Daisuke turned to the spot where the young mother and son had once lingered, his scowl increasing at dangerous rates.

"I _really_ have to stop doing that!"

~O~O~O~O~

He knew he was muscled silver haired young man sitting on a large throne in what looked like a darkened palace's throne room, but he didn't feel as embarrassed as he had thought he would all those years ago when he had first began he reign. He stroked his beard thoughtfully, with his dull eyes shining before scowling at a servant of his. "General Alexandrite, is it true that Sailor V has returned?"

A young man with clean cut dirty blonde hair—discounting the mass of bangs that frames his forehead—and emerald eyes nodded warily. He wore an identical uniform to Nephrite's Dark Kingdom one, except with black boots rather than brown. "Yes, Lord Sphene."

"For you, that's rather . . . unfortunate." Sphene's scowl deepened considerably. He was honestly starting to get annoyed by his servant. They needed to destroy the Sailor Soldiers, not dance around the subject like they had done before. "You will annihilate all the threats. If I find that the Sailor Soldiers are still alive, there shall be consequences on your part; is that understood?"

"Yes sir!" Alexandrite nodded quickly and lowered his head in a bow. "I will destroy them and gather energy for our future reign over the Earth itself!"

"Good," Sphene finally said, his blood-red eyes glinting maliciously. He was rather pleased with Alexandrite's answer, which he had expected the general had known that was the correct answer from the start. "Very good indeed."

~O~O~O~O~

Sighing as she neared the Hikawa Shrine, Eri scowled. _What was up with that guy? What was he, some sort of creeper? Men are weird._ She ran her fingers through her hair, although, unlike her mothers, she had no bangs—with the exception with the hair framing the sides of her forehead that was. The image of the white haired boy gaping at her burned itself into her mind. There was something off about his white aura; she just couldn't place her finger on it. She wasn't particularly worried about the older boy though; his aura had an orange gold that reminded her of Chiba Mamoru's own, and perhaps her mother, Rei's, very briefly. She still didn't understand what was up with the white haired boy's stutter though; she dismissed it as just a man-thing. _Younger boys are too, I guess._

Eri's eyes fell upon a giggling blonde girl in shrine maiden robes, who looked no more than seven, her sister—her all-to-painfully-and-irritatingly-innocent sister.

Hino Aiko was born shortly after Rei had been diagnosed with an odd cancer (another long story, but the Silver Crystal had fixed everything). She looked identical to Minako, and was as equally rowdy and hyperactive, just with less perverse jokes in private, if Eri were to be concerned.

"Eri!" Aiko ran up with the biggest grin that she could muster up. She were her hair in her trademark braid that was tied by a single red ribbon, as always and the golden locket that Kino Akira—the third child and only son of Kino Makoto and Ami—had gifted her with. "You're _finally_ home!"

"Just because you got out earlier than I did today doesn't mean that it takes me forever to get home," Eri grumbled. Her sister also had a habit of over exaggerating things or taking them out of context, a tendency of which got _extremely_ annoying the day after it was picked up all those antagonizing weeks ago; she wished that it would dissipate into oblivion then destroyed by an atomic bomb after spending years in the Christian torture house known as Hell, honestly.

Eri sighed. Aiko also knew of the Sailor Soldiers' secret identities, as she had found out after a Youma attacked their family while on a vacation in Okinawa. Of course, Eri already knew that long before and had transformed into Sailor Eros to help Mars and Venus purge the wicked beast. Not to say the least, but Aiko thought it was "awesome" that her parents—she had thought the same about them when she had first found out too—and older sister were Sailor Soldiers.

"Eri, Do you know when Mama is going to finally get home from her job?" Aiko asked. Despite her question, her eyes twinkled with a certain happiness only an innocent and energetic child could withhold. "She's taking _forever_!"

Eri opened her mouth to respond, but froze after the movement of a shadow was caught in the corner of her eye. She was certain it was; it _had_ to be a Youma; the presence of one of those demons was extremely hard to forget and didn't exactly take a psychic-genius to recognize on the spot. Eri frowned. Aiko wasn't a Sailor Soldier by a long shot, as she had observed, it would be dangerous for a younger sister to stay in the midst of a future battle any long than she had to be. "Aiko, could you go inside and get me my robes?"

Aiko looked confused for a moment, but she ran inside the shrine anyway. Eri had a feeling that her sister had some psychic abilities of her own too, and had sensed the Youma's presence just like she had a moment ago.

"Come out!" Eri shouted to a certain person—no _beast_ , rather—particular, well, if the Youma wasn't there anymore, she's look like an insane fool. All she knew was that she had to protect her friends, her family—she had to protect _all_ of the innocent; that was always her top priority in life, both as a Sailor Soldier and civilian alike. "I know you're there, Youma!"

The Youma finally made itself known to Eri. It had a tall lithe female be form, long talons, unruly hair than fell down a little past its midsection, a gravy covering its green-tinted body like a one-price bathing suit; in truth, it wasn't exactly the prettiest thing she had ever seen in her life, but not the ugliest she's ever seen, either. The Youma bared its yellow-stained fangs at her while its eyes gleamed with one primal urge: _murder_.

"I won't let you hurt anyone! Eros Asteroid Power, Make-Up!" Eri shouted, raising the black transformation pen that had been given to her by Artemis after she had transformed by Will at the age of seven, much thanks to mother-stealing witches and their minions.

She finished her transformation and stared down at her sailor uniform that had replied her academy's own. The outfit itself had a red skirt and the lining that normally matched it, black heeled shoes that were identical to Sailor Venus' former—with the exception of the color, of course—black ribbons, and a black stone inside of her tiara; it was an all too familiar feeling, the thrill of adrenaline from transforming, and she grinned from it, as she hadn't done so it what felt like an eternity.

"I am the Soldier of Mystery; Sailor Eros is on the scene!" Sailor Eros—once Eri—announced, striking a pose similar to Sailor Venus' own, her eyes sparkling in the sun's intense rays like the stones they greatly resembled in color. "As my current rank and for the Asteroid 433 Eros, I will punish you, Youma scum!"

The Youma made an unintelligible sound before jumping to lunge at her. It raised it talons in the slashing position and opened its shark-like mouth as well f it was going to devour her on the spot. . If she had been any normal she would've been frozen in place, but she was a _Sailor Soldier_ , not a coward; Sailor Soldiers did one thing that majorly contrasted them from cowards, they actually dodged but opted to stay in the fight rather than the opposite action of running comically, and Eros did just that.

The Youma stared at her perplexingly, which it probably was immensely undoubtedly due to its primitive and mentally inferior personality that won out, in comparison to her own.

"This can't go on any longer!" Eros shouted. She would be damned if she let this . . . _thing,_ live any further so it could harm her loved one. "I won't allow it! Eros Resistant Charm!"

The red beam of energy that she knew so well erupted from her palm, darting straight into the Youma's line of sight almost brutally; then it destroyed the beast with the upmost precision and accuracy. To her, it felt extraordinarily good to fight again, Sailor Eros realized. She hadn't gone up against a straggling Youma in months, and now that it happened, she was still feeling the effects of the adrenaline rush, and she loved it; she loved it all.

"Yeah!" Eros whooped gleefully. "I still got it!"

~O~O~O~O~

The desolate front of the Hikawa Shrine seemed neglected by every bit then, Eri noted, but then frowned at her current nuisance. Kumiko's nagging was really getting on her nerves; if they hadn't just gotten back from T*A Academy , she would've probably abandoned her friend and change into her shrine maiden robes rather than stay in her school uniform; which was all too uncomfortable at the moment, in her opinion.

"For the last time, I won't do it!" Eri enthused, her eyes shining with contentment. Her friend's request was both foolish and insane, so much so that she couldn't wrap her head around it. If it was so stupid, why should she have to go through with it; why her of all the billions of people in the world? "Why must _I_ always be the brunt of your stupid plans, Kumiko?"

"Because," Kumiko began as she pouted immaturely, much like a child would do, "you _really_ need to loosen up and expand your horizons!"

Eri stiffened. She didn't agree with the request, it would only reveal one of her mouth her guarded secrets. Kumiko didn't know her secret, and why should she to begin with; she didn't have any jurisdiction over her tastes or anything like that, so again, why should she? "No means no, and I won't say it again!"

"B-but—" Kumiko's pout deepened, and Eri felt her resolve begin to deteriorate as each new second –slowly passed by in a painful matter. "—I really want to get some with you!"

"I will never understand how you deal with doing that every day," Eri groaned, a scowl beginning to form across her pale features. She didn't understand Kumiko's fascination with "getting some" nor did she understand the average civilian's desire in doing the action all together, and perhaps, how they could stand it.

Kumiko's pout was at its visible worse, as was Eri's evident terrifying scowl.

"All I wanted to do was just eat some ice cream with you!"

"But I really hate ice cream!"

* * *

A/N: Wow, the first chapter is finally done, two weeks later! So as the point of view implies, this story will resolve around Eri and her friends' adventure. This is the longest chapter that I've wrote in a long time, so let's pray that I can keep it up! I also like reviews; they, uh, help motivate my muse! Yeah, that's right! Motivation!

~NeroJove


	2. Act Two: Meetings, Enemy

Disclaimer: I don't own the right to Sailor Moon, Takeuchi Naoko and a few other companies do, yada, yada, yada.

* * *

In simple terms, her life sucked at that precise moment.

Groaning internally to herself, Eri stared at the test in her hands dejectedly, looking as if someone had killed her cat; if some _had_ killed Artemis though, they'd be dead from an "unidentified" murder; she was extremely creative with her revenge plots, after all. Her test score was like that in a sense, she'd need to find a completely innocent and believably creative way to get out of punishment before it occurred and rudely interfere with her treasured afternoon plans.

Eri closed her eyes and tighter her ribbon. Rei would probably have yelled at her for twenty minutes straight and Minako would've called one if the daughters of their long-time family friends, Kino Akemi to help her study, which was another terror all in itself; once Akemi got started witch anything my academic related, you should never interrupt her, or you'd probably be dead by the time the study session ended. Eri paled. She would never let her parents have Akemi tutor her; her life practically depended on the decision. She then shuddered. _Akemi can't tutor me anymore, not after what happened last time._

Eri played the crumpled ball of paper in her hands. The exam had been a tough one, to say the least. It had been on the Edo period of Japan as just a review; however she still got confused on which event was which. But then again, history itself had never truly been her strong suit; in a nutshell, that probably explained her mark of an eighteen percent, which wasn't exactly an ideal one; that was definitely certain.

 _A nap sounds good right about now._ Eri laid her head in her arms to go through with one of her favorite pastimes. She loved naps, honestly; they allowed her to forget everything that had been condemned as stressful, and then recharge. _And_ _they also allowed me to fantasize, too_. Eri's face burned at the thought, although she couldn't particularly help either one, mostly due to teenage hormones. Hormones were extraordinarily aggravating, and she absolutely despised them; she despised them all with a burning passion. _But you know you love fantasizing, Eri!_ she shot back to herself in mental turmoil. _You know you constantly have willing fantasies about Kino Emi!_

Eri felt her face stain a brighter red, even more so than it was previously. She had a small—according to her sister, huge—crush on the eldest of the three Kino siblings; and has had one for around a month or so, something in that matter, at least. It had all began after Emi had protected her against some common-found street thugs and successfully, for better terms, beat them up to pulp; Emi was a true martial arts practitioner, that much was definitely evident to the foolish stranger's naked and blissfully ignorant dual eyes.

Kumiko leaned over to sneak a peek at Eri's terrible score. Her eye brow were scrunched together in deep concentration, obviously to try and get a silent view without alerting Eri, because Lord knows that would turn out well for anyone. The last time Kumiko attempted to do that, the school nearly burst into flames and she almost died from her friend's wrath in the process. No, being the brunt of Eri's wrath _certainly_ was not one of the many forms of fun—mainly teasing—that Kumiko enjoyed immensely; it wasn't any fun at all.

"What do you think you're doing, Kumiko?" Eri inquired darkly. She was staring at Kumiko with a slight eye twitch. She honestly hated how Kumiko though that she had the liberty to eavesdrop on her exam scores with her permission. She had a reputation to hold up; bad grades didn't exactly aid in that reputation she needed to uphold at school! _Doesn't Kumiko have something better to do, like mind her own business or something?_

Kumiko's face flushed red with embarrassment and her face showed nothing but true uncensored terror. "Uh, nothing Eri!" she squeaked. If Eri knew how fearful she already was, then all would be lost at the exact moment; if there was anything she was more careful to preserve, it would be her precious dignity that she loved so much—or what was left of it, and she wasn't going to let Eri's loud rant during class ruin it; only Kumiko was allowed to do that, not Eri. "It's nothing at all!"

"Yeah, right." Eri rolled her eyes. She knew that Kumiko was flat out lying to her face, and she wasn't happy about it; not one bit. However, Eri wasn't going to go on one of her everyday angry rants that day; she just wasn't in the mood for it after discovering her exam score. "And Mama and I want to be popular idols."

"But it was nothing!" Kumiko defended, her voice a little too high pitched for Eri's liking; it obviously indicated a very poorly executed low. "I was just," Kumiko paused a minute to come up with a believable answer, bringing a finger to her chin in contemplation, "stretching—yeah that's it; I was _definitely_ stretching!"

Eri raised a brow before feeling her face go red from anger. Kumiko's answer was not short of any stupidity and lack of though; that was certain. It just made her blood boil when someone was dishonest about their actions; it nearly broke her resolve right then and there. She took a deep breath and attempted to calm down, opting for a witting retort rather than some impulsive anger-induced rant that was on the verge of occurring. "And I'm sure "stretching" involves standing up and trying to look at my score on the history exam."

"Um, yeah, it's the newest yoga move my mom is teaching me; I learned it last week!" Kumiko laughed nervously. If Eri didn't know that she was lying to begin with, that right there would've been a dead giveaway. While standing, Kumiko grinned and performed an odd shape that _did_ look suspiciously like something that would come out of a yoga class, although it had to be a really awkward one at that; or it was just that she was horrible at yoga, Eri had a feeling that the latter was correct rather than the former. Kumiko's guilty sheepish grin downgraded to a peppy smile. "See, yoga move!"

"You're luck we're in detention," Eri groaned. If there was one thing that was most evident among other things, it had to be that Kumiko was a terrible liar; she was eons worse than her test grade, and that was saying something right there. It was pathetic, Kumiko's laying history, and Eri would've been ashamed of it too, but since it forced her to be brutally honest, Eri didn't mind; she didn't mind one bit. "Yeah, because that is _such_ a great yoga skill that _everybody_ would use."

"Meanie!" Kumiko stuck her tongue out at Eri immaturely; it reminded her of the stories that Rei would to her of Minako as a small child, and even to this day, she would share them occasionally. Kumiko's playful glare became more intense as she pouted. "I'll have you know that I'm _very_ excellent at yoga, Eri!"

"And good at acting like a five-year old too, apparently," Eri grumbled. As annoying as her friend—no, _best_ friend—she still loved her, although that live would always be tested; just like it was right at that moment. At times, she wished Kumiko would at least _try_ to be smart, for all their sakes; but if there was one thing that Eri had learned from early on in life, a smart-impersonating Kumiko was always a terrifying Kumiko, and she certainly didn't want to go through that like she had a few years back; just thinking about that sent shares down her spine, it was that scary.

"Hey, I heard that!" Kumiko exclaimed, insulted. She placed her hands on her hips and glared, this time, for real. She was irritated with Eri's idea that she was immature _all_ the time; she did have the ability to be mature, she just didn't chose to use it a lot. "I can be mature if I wanted to; I have been mature in the past before, and you were there, so you know it!"

Eri was forced to stifle a sarcastic laugh, in fear of being g scolded of Sister Watanabe would return to the class room at any given moment. The last time that Kumiko attempted to be mature, as she had said before, had been a disaster; she was luck that she was even able to subdue to monstrous creature of evil known as the Mature-Kumiko. Eri allowed her eyes to roll for the second time in that ten minutes that they had been bickering, if one could even call it that. "Yeah, and we all know how that turned out. I think you actually scarred more than a few of our innocent underclassmen when you did that, including my poor sister; I think she was actually terrified of you for period of time afterwards, you know."

"Jerk!" Kumiko stuck her tongue out at Eri once again. She was honestly in denial about her friend's earlier statement, but a large part of her couldn't deny that Eri some logic in her statement; actually, in truth, it was a lot more than some, and she perhaps scarred Aiko too. Her voice then filled with what people identify as desperation. "I can't be _that_ scary when I'm all in mature-mode, _right_? And Eri, you're worse than me when it comes to the terror department; you scarred my brother who's _in college_ and many more in my family whenever you got angry with your short temper and all!"

Eri took a deep breath, feeling her resolve begin to waste away after each agonizingly long second ticked by, one by one; it was really starting to get to her. She couldn't get into more trouble than she already was with Sister Watanabe, and she had something to say to Kumiko before she lost all self-control. Eri rubbed her temple, her right eye and brow twitching, proving that the irritation was getting to her after each passing moment. "Kumiko, you're worse than me."

Only after then, her resolve finally broke.

~O~O~O~O~

Daisuke ran a hand through his hair as he stared at her with a frown. Regulus—no, now _Miyuki_ —had decided to join him in his study if Hino Eri; she had said that he "doing a terrible job and hanging around too many schoolgirls" or something similar to that, with it of course have a large amount of cussing. Miyuki _did_ make it a point to curse a lot when she was stressed out or frustrated, and it tended to be worse when both factors were combined; that was his case at the moment, apparently.

Fortunately for Daisuke, she had been enrolled in the public Juuban Azabu high school—the one that the civilian forms of Inner Sailor Soldiers had attended as teenagers, according to his sources—of the area, thankfully not his school. Not only did he have to deal with Miyuki scolding him about his failures every minute when she was in a bad mood after traveling to a domain, now he had to deal with it every day after school had ended; it was getting _way_ to aggravating for him to deal with. _One of these days,_ he thought grimly, _I'm going to implode from one of Miyuki's rants, and it's not going to be fun for anyone at all._

"You know," Miyuki said impassively with her voice portraying no emotion whatsoever, flattening out her school's sailor uniform, "Kiyoko misses you terribly; she asked me to allow her to spend time here with you, as you already made my mission yours in this dimension and such, after I had went there for a short period of time."

 _Huh?_ Daisuke blinked perplexingly. He then suddenly felt dirty and angry with himself. How could he forget about Kiyoko, his loving and kind girlfriend whom he loved more than time and space itself? Of course, he know the answer instantly, and his was disgusted in himself, even more so than before. He had been too concentrated on solely the mission, so this, he forgot about what he had back home and everything else associated with it. _I can't believe I forgot about her . . . I'm such a horrible person._

"Daisuke, you can't get yourself worked up over your forgetfulness," Miyuki said as if she could read his mind. She frowned as her gaze began to distance itself from reality. "It's rather foolish, and you are more fortunate than I am; you chose to come here by choice and still have everything, meanwhile, I had to give up everything I knew and endure an eternity loneliness long before you were born, all for the sake of the mission; so, stop pitying yourself damn it!"

Daisuke suddenly found the structure and planning apartment they were in extremely interesting. It had just occurred to him that the walls were painted a whitish-gray mixed shade, with many windows for lighting, and a tanned carpet; or was a nice living area, but there was truly no place like home, as stated in an American movie once. Once, Miyuki has commented about it looking identical to Kino Makoto's apartment that she had been living in since her junior high years; though, that was probably just because they lived in the same apartment district as Makoto did.

Daisuke frowned. In all truthfulness, he hadn't taken Miyuki's predicament info full consideration like he should have, before comparing it to his own. He scowled to himself in disdain, feeling even worse about himself, and now for his friend. _So great, not only am I a horrible forgetful boyfriend, but now I'm inconsiderate and heartless towards others too, especially to my friends!_

"You have to stop!" Miyuki's facial expression became pained and angry at the same time, he suspected that it had to do with conflicting emotions and pent up frustration. "Daisuke, you have to stop feeling bad for yourself! How are we ever going to complete the mission of you don't cooperate; don't forgot that you came her on your own, either!"

"All right," Daisuke groaned. He knew he wasn't going to actually go through with his agreement right away, as much as he was sure Miyuki wanted him too; it was going to take time, a time that he particularly wasn't ready to use up at the moment. "I will."

"Good," Miyuki said finally. She didn't seem to believe him one bit, and still seemed rather angry and looked as if she could burst into another rant at any given provocation; even the slightest one could possibly set her off, knowing his rotten luck. Her gaze gravitated itself towards when of the Windows. "Because we have to work harder, they're becoming more powerful."

"Yeah," Daisuke agreed solemnly, his own gaze transfixed on where Miyuki's was. He needed to find them; he _had_ to find them and end their captor's existence, once and for all. Most of his reasons of traveling to this current dimension resided in just that. "I know."

~O~O~O~O~

Frowning as she went her merry way, Kumiko shoulder's sagged as she navigated her way through the vacant and barren alleyways of Tokyo. The stars twinkled above her in the inky black sky and a half moon shine above her and the various tall buildings of the large city. She knew she shouldn't have been out that late, but Eri's previous comments have been nagging that entire afternoon and evening; they had done nothing but hurt her feelings and slightly wound her pride. Of course, Eri had said those things before, but for some reason, the memory of them wouldn't stop harassing her, eventually causing her to cry lightly earlier that day. _Does she really think that of me; does she really hate? If she does, why is she even friends with me?_ She bit back a bitter chuckle. _And here I thought that_ I _was the insane and illogical one of us two!_

Kimiko visibly flinched as she caught a shadow in the corner of her left eye retreating into an entrance to an opposing darkened alleyway. The area that she was in sort of reminded her of a maze of sorts, with all of its confusing tunnels that intersected with each other's, ones that she had to choose to enter; one poorly made choice could prove to be fatal, in both alleyways and mazes alike. _But still_ , she thought warily, _what the hell was that shadow? Was it a rat or something; or could it be a . . . ill-intentioned thief_?

"You know," a male voice began from the shadows, "you fit my criteria quite efficiently. You'd surely make a wonderful Youma. . yes definitely; Lord Sphene will be pleased."

"W-who are you and what do you want from me?" Kumiko paled and took a few steps back. Who was this young man, and what did he want from her? She felt her knees shake with terror. Was she going to be raped? Kumiko honestly had no idea, all she could do was pray, or perhaps bargain, for her future safety. "I-I have money if you want it," she stuttered fearfully. "P-please leave me be, sir."

"To answer your first question—since I am in such a great mood—I am Alexandrite, servant of my glorious Lord Sphene, Ms. Fukui Kumiko," Alexandrite introduced smoothly while bowing very prince-like, smirking slightly as he did so. He then held out his gloved hand in a welcoming matter, as if he wanted for them shake hands. "However, I do not want any of what you humans are referring to as money, I want something of much more value to me and my master; I wish to have your servitude as a loyal and powerful Youma! Dark Power!"

And when the hand that he held out began to glow a pulsating black color, Kimiko felt extremely dizzy and lightheaded. Then, suddenly, her world faded into nothingness as she collapsed onto the cold contents of the hard cement street of the alleyway below.

~O~O~O~O~

Eri closed her eyes as she swept the steps of the Hikawa Shrine, an act that she found both extremely calming and irritating to do simultaneously. She sighed. Eri knew that she shouldn't have been so cruel to Kumiko during her little rant and felt terribly guilty about it, but she could exactly hold her anger back once she got provoked—whether directly or indirectly; she was just impulsively that way. _I still shouldn't have said those unnecessary things, like that she was the most annoying person in the world though, or that I didn't want to talk to her anymore during our argument and such; she was just defending herself too! God, I'm cruel._

"Are you okay big sis?" Aiko asked, appearing from a spot behind some nearby bushes that she had apparently been playing in, with a concerned expression written all across her youthful face. "You don't look alright; you actually look really sad."

Eri snapped her gaze to the ground. As much as she may have wanted to, she could never lie to her sister of all people; lying to Aiko was like murdering a young adorable puppy in front a child who loved it, basically not fun and a horrible act. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I was mean to a friend since I let my temper get the best of me; I think I might've hurt her feelings big time."

Aiko's face scrunched together in intense concentration. Eri should've know that her sister would've had to think really hard to come up with a valuable or comforting answer for her situation; she was an airhead, like their mother Minako, and only eight-years old, after all; it wasn't like she was a trained psychologist or something. Aiko smiled brightly, obviously finally coming up with an answer. "Then apologize, you _really_ big dummy!"

"I'm anything _but_ a dummy, thank you!" Eri stuck her tongue out at Aiko. She honestly hated being insulted, among other things, and had trouble holding biting back her tongue when it came to that sore subject, even with family; she guessed that was one of the few things that had originally fueled and began her previous rant to a poor unsuspecting Kumiko. She rested her head against a tree lazily as she closed her eyes once again. "But I guess you're right about apologizing, for once."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aiko inquired and stuck her tongue out like Eri had done a mere second before, thus earning a small amused glare from her elder sister. "You're a big meanie sometimes Eri!"

"Will you two stop fighting and realize the situation that we're in at the moment!" a male voice lilies, obviously finally fed up with their antics, although he didn't exactly know then just yet. "This is absurd; you two—the innocent citizens Tokyo as well—is in danger, and all you two can think of doing is _fighting about trivial things_?"

"That's not _all_ we think about, you—cat?" Eri's eyes went wide. He was an older form of the white cat with brilliant blue eyes that shad had seen years ago, the one that had told her to and what attack to use against the evil Queen Mio and her minion Andradite. "Y-you're that cat . . ."

"And you're Sailor Eros, right?" He winked. "You can call me Selene, if you want, or just _kid_ ; Orion likes to call me that a lot."

"Who's Orion?" Aiko asked, not seeking phased about the talking cat at all; that was probably due to the knowledge that her intermediate family are all Sailor Soldiers and the fact that her playmate is another white cat known as Artemis. "Is he your friend or something?"

"Yeah, he's my friend," Selene said swiftly, although Eri could sense some nervousness in his voice; that could be an early attempt at lying. That revelation her eyes to narrow ever so slightly. Selene jumped down from the tree trunk that he had been standing on, the crescent moon on his forehead emitting a faint glow. "There's a Youma nearby, I can sense it. Eros, you need to transform, like _now_!"

"Eri, are you there?" Eri heard Kumiko call from a distance and she immediately ushered Selene into hiding, and Aiko plastered a huge smile on her face, and she did the same with an unfortunate plastic one. Eri's grip tightened on her broom handle. Something didn't seem quite right, and she could feel it too; it just seemed added onto her growing list of aggravations right then and there, which was unfortunate for her case at the moment.

"No seriously Eri, are you there?" Kumiko called again, but now in a much louder volume that time, and oddly, speaking on a tone as if she were demanding something of another. She sounded much colder too, not her casual peppy self.

"Yeah, I'm at the shrine's steps with Aiko!" Eri called back and paled, much more so than before. She was beginning to feel concerned now, and that large amount guilt that had begun to fade had returned to the surface again, this time much more intense than it ever was before. _Was the extent of my jabs so bad that it made Kumiko cold towards me; did I really that horrible to her? She's usually so happy; for this to happen; it has to be really bad. But, something still doesn't feel right . . ._

"Hi guys!" Kumiko approached them with a sadistic-looking smile; it sent chills up their spines. "What's up? I hope you didn't waste any energy doing chores."

Eri immediately grimaced. Kumiko's aura was off, _way_ to off for her liking. She squinted to get a better look. Rather than Kumiko's normal bright yellow aura, a pulsating purple-blackish aura took its place; oddly, it began to give Eri a migraine. "Are you alright, Kumiko?"

"I'm fine, no better than ever, actually!" Kumiko enthused gleefully, though her wicked smile still creepily remained. "Now, do you think you guys can help me out with something?"

"Sure!" Aiko bobbed her head up and down quickly and happily, obviously obvious to her older sister's suspicions that she had wished that she had never had in the first place. "What'd you need?"

"Eros, transform; that girl is the Youma and you need to defeat her!" Selene suddenly announced with his voice loud and clear. "Transform now!"

"Damn cat! I almost had them too!" Kumiko's skin tone suddenly to a white sheet and she sprouted black crow-like wings and long vampire-like fangs. She narrowed her now ruby eyes as a long midnight broadsword appeared in her hands. "I guess I'll just have to end Sailor Eros' life, and then steal the stupid little blonde brat's energy for Lord Sphene."

"I'm not stupid or a brat!" Aiko defended, obviously insulted by Youma-Kumiko's earlier jab. "And you're _not_ going to take my energy, you big meanie; mean people don't always get what they want, unless they're Eri!"

"Hey!" Eri piped up at her sister's remark. She felt the heat rise up in her cheeks from a growing embarrassment and anger. "That was completely uncalled for!"

"Hey Youma, leave my daughters alone!" a voice declared angrily. "I won't let you harm them!"

"I knew I sensed a disquieting presence after I arrived from work," another said. "Unfortunately, my suspicions were correct, and you vile scum will not lay a hand on my daughters!"

Eri craned her head to find Sailor Venus and Sailor Mars, respectively, glaring at Kumiko with a murderous look painted across their faces. She began to become fearful that her parents would kill Kumiko along with the Youma's spirt too; she'd be de estates of that occurred. "Mom, Mama, that's Kumiko; she's just brainwashed by some guy named Sphene!"

"Alright. We'll handle this Eri," Mars said before raising her arms. "Mars Flame Sniper!"

"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!" Venus shouted.

Eri's eyes went wide as Kumiko dodged Venus' move, but was pinned to a tree due to Mars' arrow piercing her wing. Eri went to open her mouth to scream for them to stop—they were going to kill her if they kept it up, after all—but she was cut off by an attack call.

"Now, Evil Spirit Be gone!" Mars cried, sending her ofuda expertly in Youma-Kumiko's direction. After the ofuda made contact, Kumiko suddenly went back to her human counterpart and fell to the ground with a loud thud. Eri went to help her friend, but she didn't fail to notice the outlines of a tuxedoed stranger and an oddly clad figure watching them from afar or Selene's departure.

Eri squeezed her eyes shut for around the third or fourth time that day as their mother's began enveloping her and Aiko in a group hug to ease their immense concern for them. As grateful as she was that her mothers cared, Eri still couldn't help but feel somewhat negative. _Mom going on and on about how worried she was for Aiko and I and Mama grounding my for my exam mark is going to by my whole day, isn't it?_

~O~O~O~O~

Sighing loudly, Emi ran a hand through her chestnut hair. To anyone's eyes, she looked exactly like her mother, Kino Makoto, but had her mother, Ami's, blue eyes. Akemi—her logistic-minded timid younger sister—on the other hand looked exactly like Ami, but had Makoto's green eyes, oddly enough. Emi was extremely talked, just like Makoto, and Akemi was scrawny like Ami, but they both had athletic builds. Considering their bodies, they spend lots of time in front of the TV eating junk food, but to their mothers' consternation.

Both Emi and Akemi were enrolled in the same public school too—the hell-like prison was known Shiba Koen Middle School. The only contrasts were that Emi wore the male uniform and was three years ahead of her younger sister, who was in her first year. Of course, their personalities were different too. Akemi was obsessed with school and the logic of everything while Emi couldn't care less about any of those things, as she was carefree and impulsive with her actions when it came to her emotions; Akemi was cowardly to a sense and Emi was as tough as a door nail. They were polar opposites when it came to personality traits, with the exception of a few shared; it was a complete and utter shock to their parents and brother on how they ever managed to get along at times, if not none at all, in the long run.

Speaking of school, the day hadn't been exactly to most productive day for her, as she missed several assignments that previous day and was honestly too lazy to take notes, much unlike her mother, Ami, and eerily similar to their close family friend, the notorious Tsukino Usagi's past behavioral habits during her past days as a student. She groaned. If there was anything she hated more in life than the horrible deeds in the world, it had to be school. _Wait_ , she thought. _Isn't school one of the horrible deeds in the world too; isn't it like one of the seven greatest sins in the old Testament from God in Cristian Bible or something_?

Emi closed her eyes and slung her school briefcase over her shoulder. She smiled to herself, remembering something fondly. The only reason her sister was in jail nice high despite her ripe of twelve years of age was because of her genius and excelling grades, which she had inherited from Ami. Emi knew she's never get as far as Akemi in life; out if both of their mothers, she was most like Makoto in life, after all

She went to stuff her free hand into her school uniform's pocket. She was alone, she noted, which wasn't probably the smartest choice she had ever made either, as Makoto had warned her to be careful at that time of day. The Tokyo street was unusually barren, with the orange-golden hue of the sun setting as Emi's only company and comfort; had she not been so immersed in her thoughts, she'd probably pay notice to her current surroundings with a definite sharper eye, too.

Without a doubt, Hino Eri would've.

Emi glued her gaze to the dirtied cement ground, her thoughts traveling to the current object of her affections. It was no shock that she had turned out to be that way, and if she had she had been raised differently, she would've no doubt been disgusted by her feelings, but she _was_ raised differently, so she felt no such ill way. Emi had known Eri since they were newborns, and their mothers were the closest friends, although they hadn't seen each other as much as they had during their teenage and college years, if the stories she had been told by her mothers and their friends were true or not.

Emi felt her proud smile turn to a rather inevitable dreamier one. How long has she had her crush on Eri for; wasn't it since she was twelve or thirteen, or something like that? It had been years since she first started crushing, so much so, that it was to the point where should was having trouble recalling where and when it had first began. Makoto had never ceased to stop playfully teasing her relentlessly, either; but that was one of her many ways to show that she cared about Emi, and for that, she was grateful.

Emi looked up again, playing with one of the rose earrings that she had inherited from Makoto after she had grown old enough to get her ears pierced. She was glad to have family that cared, considering that some people didn't. Emi had been terribly confused by Eri's view about her grandfather until she had met the man herself; only after that, she had understood that not all family was plausibly perfect and caring for their relatives, unfortunately. If only, for the sake of all the people who had suffered due to their mistakes, they were different; "you can't change people though," her mother Ami had once said after she had asked about Takahashi shortly after their awkward and unpleasant meeting, "if they aren't willing to change themselves."

Emi realized that her mother was right in a sense. If people aren't willing to change, they won't, but what if they had some mental disease or some similar to that; what if it was a fault that they couldn't help, like an autism or deformation somewhere? If it wasn't their fault, why should they be blamed as the sole cause as the problem? Of course, Takahashi _did_ have a choice, but chose his work over his daughter; that was unacceptable all together, but what if, in an alternate scenario, he _had_ to work non-stop to keep his family a float due to money reasons after his wife died and kept Rei with him? That would've _definitely_ been an understandable, respectable, and moral reason for not being around as much as one would like, as much as he claimed he didn't wish for it to occur, but it would also change the resent they had now, no doubt; they didn't exactly need tangible proof either, that theory alone was surely definite enough to warrant truth and agreement.

Emi spotted young eight year old boy standing around doing nothing, well, other than kicking around rocks. With his green eyes and spiky rift of her that seemed to gravitate towards the right, he looked the most like Makoto out of his oblongs; he was just male. He didn't look he had just recently came back from school either, as he wore a dusty brown jacket of a white t-shirt, denim jeans, and black sneakers; he probably hadn't too, since she had spent the afternoon at the Crown Arcade, albeit alone, as Eri had said that she was extremely busy at the moment due to her drowning in schoolwork and could barely talk, much less spend lots of time at an arcade. She wished that Eri could've went though, since she tended to brighten the room just by smiling, in Emi's opinion, at least; hilariously, she always sounded like a love-sick sap whenever she spoke about her crush, and that didn't aid in her attempt to end her mother's non-relentless string of teasing; it did nothing at all.

"Oh, hi Emi!" the boy—Akira, her brother—greeted in any typical boy fashion that was most commonly found in eight-year old's, which was very fitting, given his age and all. A small smile took the place of his previous frown. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," Emi replied nonchalantly. As much as he tried to remain aloof, she knew that her brother loved communicating with his mother's and siblings, especially her the most, if she were to be specific, since she was the most tomboyish in their family, and he could easily talk to her without being jovially teased or utterly confused by sophisticated grammar. "How about you?"

"Me neither, well except for . . ." Akira fished for a piece of paper in his pocket, and then unfolded it. Did she forget to mention that he had OCD too? He motioned the mark on his—she finally realized what it was—test. ". . . I got a twenty on my math exam; please don't tell Mom."

"If you don't want me to rat you out, then why did you tell me in the first place?" Emu inquired slyly. Like Makoto, she had her fair share of teasing him, just not as much as their mother would. "That grade is bad, and Mother will surely be able to help you improve it . . . maybe I _should_ tell her."

"No, anything _but_ Mother!" Akira exclaimed, with fear laced into his tone; Apparently, he didn't seem to quite catch on to the fact that she was teasing him yet, which happened to be fortunate for her growing amusement. "She'll gut me alive with studying of she finds out my score! I needed to tell you so that you could cover me with my excuse that it was Eri's exam!"

Emi's face went a bright red and an inevitable grin spread across her anything-but-chapped lips;, she had noticed over the years, those three things had always seemed to occur whenever someone would bring up Eri's name—even if it were adorning a non-teasing intention as a mask—in a conversation, unless they were in the same room together. Apparently, that was a symptom of an evident crush, as she had been told. Emi dropped her briefcase and buried her face into her hands. "Shut up Akira!"

"We got you good, sis!" Akira smirked as if he were a God and she, a mere mortal peasant, an _extremely_ inferior one at that, too. "Our plan worked, now we actually have proof of your crush so you can't deny it anymore!"

"I don't have a crush!" she argued defiantly, the blood rushing back to her face once again. She's make him pay for his action; she definitely would make them pay—wait, _them_ ; there was a _them_? "What do you mean exactly by "we", Akira?"

"He means that I aided with this little experiment," Akemi said as she walked out of her hiding spot of under a nearby bench, clad in both her clear glasses and school uniform. She held a video camera that _had_ to have been used to film Emi's reaction. "The results were rather satisfactory; now Akira will _have_ to stop harassing me now that it's done."

"I always keep my promises," Akira chuckled goofily, rubbing the back of his neck like their mothers' friend Motoki did when in his wife's presence; he was certainly whipped from to start, according to their mothers.

"Good." Akemi tossed Akira to video camera. She didn't seem particularly happy about the whole ordeal, in fact, she looked quite grim at the moment; maybe it was because she hated betrayal as much as Emi despised school, maybe even more so. "Now I'm heading home to study."

"Why did you videotape me?" Emi finally demanded. She was rather mortified, due to her brother's actions, and concerned that he might possibly show Eri or Aiko the clip and her most well-kept secret would be revealed; she couldn't let the happen; she couldn't let that happen at all. "Delete it now!"

"Never!"

"Delete it or else!"

Akira laughed loudly as he ran down the road with Emi hot in his heels. She would make him pay for his actions, and she wouldn't stop until she had gotten her point across; it was: one should _never_ mess with the semi-professional martial artist, Kino Emi, and expect to get away with it free of any horrible wounds whatsoever. And an angered Emi planned to teach Akira just that, and she definitely planned to go through with it the hard way.

Although, as she chased Akira around, Emi couldn't seem to fight the reoccurring feeling that something life-changing was going to happen in a short time's notice. And one word oddly began to slip its way into her mind and stayed stuck there for the longest, most aggravating, time.

 _Bacchus._

* * *

A/N: Um, reviews are nice? But, anyway, I hope you readers enjoyed this latest chapter!

. . . But, seriously, reviews really _are_ nice . . .


	3. Act Three: Suspicion, Dream

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, blah, blah, blah

* * *

She had always been able to conceal her emotions both easily and successfully, even if she was upset beyond words. The situation that she was currently experiencing was of no exception, although it was harder to do so than most others that she had previously faced; she blamed being a hormonal teenager and their friendship as the main cause, albeit there could've _definitely_ been many more emotional factors involved to cause her most recent distress.

Eri's eyes fell upon Kumiko silently taking notes at her desk which was located in the opposite side of the large cluttered science classroom. Ever since the incident where she had nearly yelled out loud, Sister Watanabe felt the need to it upon herself to separate them to prevent any future conflicts; Eri wasn't exactly happy about it, either; she actually hated it with an intense passion, in fact.

Even if the whole desk situation was nonexistent, she'd still be in a major slump. _She_ had hurt _Kumiko_ and possibly destroyed their friendship, her _best friend_ no less! She knew she had temperament issues, but she never realized that her problems were _that_ extreme; she really needed to get help for it. _I need to apologize to Kumiko, tell her that I didn't mean and that I feel horrible about it. Yeah, I_ really _need to start doing that really soon._

Eri sighed inaudibly as Sister Fujiyama—or whatever her name was—continued lecturing them in atoms and molecules—a topic that she despised greatly for the dual factors of its complication and difficulty. The boredom really wasn't helping her keep her mind off the whole Kumiko-Avoidance situation, nor did it help ease her jump nerves either. Ever since that whole incident when Kumiko transformed into a Youma, Eri had been feeling an odd sense of anxiety; it was almost as if Kumiko knew something that she didn't—or possibly _did_ —oddly enough.

That Youma incident has proven to be rather large blow to their friendship after their fight; it was almost as if Kumiko actually _remembered_ being a Youma. Eri scoffed internally at the thought. No one ever remembered the time as a Youma minion, and she was sure that Kumiko was _certainly_ no exception whatsoever. That would've undoubtedly been completely and utterly absurd, if she were to be concerned with its specific details at all.

"Alright class, we have a new transfer student joining us from now on; I hope you all treat her accordingly."

Eri snapped out of her thoughts almost immediately due to Sister Fujiyama's most recent statement; she was terribly confused by its content. She was complete definite that T*A Academy _never_ accepted new students at her age, not even once in all the years they've been educating young girls in their district. Why now of all times? She wondered, luckily for the safety of her hide, not out loud. Why change the policies for one person when they could've easily put the time and effort from doing that into something more beneficial for the betterment school?

Suddenly, the new transfer student swaggered in, and Eri suddenly got the creeps. Other than her green eyes, the strange girl looked exactly like her mother; they were nearly identical, with the eye color difference. She became extremely suspicious about the new girls aura, which was a green color that was very similar to her aunt Makoto, and Makoto was, well, _Sailor Jupiter._

"Likewise." The girl bowed both respectively politely. "My name is Kitano Kaede, and it's a pleasure to acquaintances with you all, everyone."

Honestly, she was unnerved by the girl enough already to be creeped out anymore by her. There was just something about her that sent Eri spiraling out of proportions. Maybe it was her uncanny resemblance to Rei or that black that sealed past her green aura that sent Eri that wrong way; she wasn't exactly certain of the main cause of it all.

Kaede smiled slightly and went to her seat, which was right next to Kumiko's own. Eri was sure that there was some hidden information behind that smile; she just didn't exactly know it yet. She scowled internally. _What if she's_ another _Youma? And why_ my _school of all places?_

~O~O~O~O~

Eri was truly weirded out throughout the entire span of class time. Kaede wouldn't stop staring at her like she a five million yen or something; it was getting extremely creepy for her tastes. Eri groaned internally as Sister Fujiyama left the classroom for some other business as the wretched

class came to a sudden halt.

She scowled internally. Eri had so many things on her mind involving her situation with Kumiko and the new transfer student, Kaede, which was beginning to take a harsh toll on her once recent semi-great mood; she hated it, to be truthful.

"Are you alright?" Kaede asked, breaking her out of her thoughts. "You sensed rather . . . upset, to say the least."

Surprised, Eri jumped, letting out an all-too-loud yelp for anyone's comfort. She was certain that her face was already stained red from embarrassment by then. "W-what?"

"I said that you liked upset, that's all," Kaede said slowly. "There's no need for you to get flustered or anything like that. If you ever met my friend, she'd tease you relentlessly for that, you know."

Eri noted the dreamy expression Kaede took on when she mentioned her friend; she decided to place in the back of her mind for any necessary future reference. This time, the actually scowled visibly. "And, what of it?"

"Oh nothing," Kaede replied quickly, almost _too_ quickly for Eri's tastes. "I was just curious, that's all."

As Kaede redirected her gaze to somewhere else, Eri did the same in the opposite direction. She couldn't help but to acknowledge the overwhelming suspicion that they had met once before; it gave her an extreme sense of déjà vu. Her scowl deepened considerably. _I swear she better not be a Youma. I can't deal with another one solo anymore; it's getting far too exhausting._

Then the afternoon bell began to sound—which indicated the ending of the school day—and Eri bolted from the building with vigor.

~O~O~O~O~

Eri was running face-first down the bustling streets of Tokyo, even though she knew she shouldn't be. She had so many thoughts racing through her mind, though, that she couldn't help it the least bit. All she wanted to do was get to the arcade so that she could spend the little time she currently had available in that afternoon with Emi, nothing more, nothing less.

Eri smiled giddily at the thought. She sometimes felt that her mother, Minako, had influenced her in the matters of the heart with teasing; she had to agree though, it was a lot of fun. She loved watching Emi go from acting cool to flustered in a mere few seconds due to her presence; it was adorable. That didn't mean that Emi liked her too, did it? That was where she got all confused by the mixed signals; she hated those as much as she hated pick pocketing.

Mixed signals were horrid. It was a fifty-fifty chance at correct interpretation, and she absolutely despised it with a passion. She frowned. She didn't know what she would do if she was rejected by her plausibly first mature crush; she'd be, ironically, crushed. But, what if—

Unfortunately, Eri's thoughts were brutally cut off as she came into s brute contact with another unlucky human being, causing school briefcases to go flying in the process.

"Oi," the person—obviously female—began irritatingly, "watch where you're going!"

"No, _you_ watch where _you're_ go—" Eri's eyes went wide as she got a glimpse of the strange girls aura; it was pure black. She paled considerably. That couldn't have been good. She was possibly the only one in that colored aura; another person with that aura could prove to be a threat to their safety. _What if she's an enemy, or a Sailor Soldier, like me?_

"Are you alright?" the girl asked warily, the tone in her voice changing drastically. "Oh, and I'm Kuroki Miyuki by the way; I think I forgot to introduce myself earlier."

"I'm Hino Eri," she introduced quietly. Eri had realized seconds ago that she needed to get away from Miyuki at all cost; her social drive, as little as it was, had to wait. She didn't need to bolt off instantly though, as the boy that she had recognized as the creeper-pedophile from days before headed up to the scene. Eri quickly gathered her things. _Is he her boyfriend or something?_

He eyed her with curiosity. "Something come up in, uh, family business, and we need to go right now to attend, Miyuki."

Miyuki gave him an intense glare before following him off bitterly. She looked anything _but_ happy about the revelation as she disappeared though, that much was certain.

 _I need to tell Mama and Mom about this,_ Eri though as she jogged down the other side of the street, after _the arcade with Emi, of course._

~O~O~O~O~

The rustling of ashen-colored grass in the light breeze that lay under the reddened sky, seemed to be an omen of sort, he dually noted, playing with the wine glass grasped in his hands firmly.

Alexandrite's daily routine for the day had normally consisted of gathering energy to aid in the resurrection Chaos, but that had been ruined when his ally, Tanzanite, had been set out for a similar obligation rather than himself. He growled. Out of all of his companions, he hated the traitorous, arrogant and overzealous Tanzanite the most of them all.

Alexandrite could name many things he hated about his forces ally. Tanzanite was arrogant on his abilities, for starters, and even challenged their leader, Kyanite, for leadership once. He was also anything but loyal, making his own agenda a greater priority to him than that of his servitude Lord Sphene evident enough; it disgusted Alexandrite, such disloyalty. Tanzanite also happened to be extremely rude, Alexandrite in specifics, to his fellow warriors. In a nutshell, Alexandrite hated _everything_ about Tanzanite, if he hadn't made that clear beforehand.

"Alexandrite, foolishly, Lord Sphene requests for your rather . . . unnecessary presence."

 _Speak of the devil, and he shall come,_ thought Alexandrite bitterly as the wine glass began to crack in his hands. "Then I guess we all positively know now why he sent you on an energy-gathering mission of Earth, now don't we?"

"Ah, I see your pathetic defense level had increased since we had last it; still, it's truly quite pitiful," Tanzanite laughed smugly in the shadows that concealed his physical features. "But we would hate to make our precious master wait on your lazy arse, so get up and go crawling to him."

As Alexandrite stood quickly out of rage, the wine glass finally shattered in her hands. "You take that back now, you bastard!"

"Fighting isn't the smartest idea for reviving Chaos, now is it?" a smooth voice asked all of the sudden.

"Lord Sphene!" they immediately ceased their arguing and slum on their heels to bow like loyal dogs to their owner. "We didn't realize you were there!"

"That it forgiven, my friends." Sphene smiled, although wickedness and deceit were underlying in it. "Alexandrite, you must know that you are being assigned with a very important mission; failure in this will not be tolerated and end in death, understood?"

Alexandrite, now the smug one, grinned in a silently seething Tanzanite's direction. It filled him with a high honor and sense of achievement, on how he bested Tanzanite at something; it was rather satisfying, actually. "I understand, my lord. But, what is the mission exactly?"

Sphene's eyes shine with intense greed and surprising lust. "I want you to locate Sailor Eros and bring her to me."

 _This mission should be easy for me to solely complete._ Alexandrite lowered his head in an admirable respect. "I shall bring her here for your intentions, Lord Sphene."

~O~O~O~O~

If one were to go by her mothers' stories, the Crown Arcade hadn't kept up with the times. They had said that it still looked like it had in 1996, which probably explained its low popularity. Emi loved it anyway, though, as it was close to where she and her family lived and had modernized games, even though its outward and inward appearance remained consistent. Even with that, the gaming systems were extremely difficult, well, in her opinion it was.

"This game is so freaking hard!" Emi almost ran her fist through the arcade game screen. Her race car had just previously swerved to the right and crashed into the stands, according to the race game's screen, all due to her failure. But being competitive by nature, she hated to lose, and this loss was no exception; it could never be, like any other one. Emi felt her eye twitch and she gritted her teeth. "Why do they even bother to create a game that's impossible to win?"

"That intent is for the crane games." Akemi rolled her eyes boredly. Of course, she obviously was, as she had been dragged there by her elder sister after their mothers had told her to do such so they could go on one of their rare dates, and Akira was off somewhere spending time with his friends from school. "And Tenou always seem to win those games with the upmost accuracy and precision, thus always gaining the highest score on racing games."

"Your grammar is way too sophisticated for your age and my comfort," Emi grumbled in discontent, then inserted another token into the game machine's slot to begin a new round. She was certain that eyes were sparkling with pride and determination while she spoke at that same exact moment. "But I, the great Kino Emi, will not and never lose to a mere electronic game!"

"Lose to what?" Eri made her presence known to them. "Kino Emi, losing? That's both rich and priceless at the same time!" she snorted, then added, "and that never happens either!"

"I, uh, didn't lose!" Emi felt her blood pressure skyrocket and she jumped out of shock, causing her race car to crash for the second time that day. In front of Eri, she refused to ever show any of her faults to her; she would never under any circumstances whatsoever. "It was just some technical difficulties!"

Eri smiled in spite of her friend's out-the-blue nervousness. "Yeah, I'm _sure_ it was "some technical difficulties"."

Akemi snickered.

"It _was_ technical difficulties, I swear!" Emi defended valiantly. She held her pride and positive reputation status very dearly, and she would _never_ let anyone—not even her loved ones, that she held so dear to her—tarnish it. "It was rigged; it had to be!"

Eri rolled her laughing eyes. "You lie so bad, you know that?"

Emi noticed that Eri looked worn down. Her eyes were gaunt, as if she were barely getting any restful sleep recently, and she liked paler than usual, giving away tired impression. She peered through Eri's façade for a moment and saw someone unhappy with their life at the moment. Rather than pry in the public's eyes, Emi decided to huff defensively instead. "I _so_ do not!"

Eri went to laugh, but then stiffened as a moving shadow in the distance caught her eyes; its dastardly aura didn't help her jumpy nerves, either. "Something ill is watching us; we aren't safe anymore."

"I didn't notice anything suspicious." Akemi frowned. "Are you sure that you're feeling healthy right now, Eri?"

Eri nodded. "I'm positive; we need to get out of here, _now_."

Emi's brow furrowed in confusion as Eri began dragging them out of the arcade. She hated to admit it, but she had an odd sense of anxiety too; she found the ghoulish feeling immensely unsettling. The belief that something life-changing in the future was going to occur to her hit her like a ton of bricks once again, and she paled as thunder began to rumble in the overhead; it indicated something was going to take place, if her feeling hadn't already. _I know that I can't fight fate . . . I just hope that nothing horrible is going to happen to everyone._

~O~O~O~O~

Later that night, Eri was watching it all unfold from a pink bun-headed girl's big innocent bright blue eyes that gleamed with eagerness and utter joy.

She found herself in a golden palace—which was large in diameter and height—padding down on the crystal-themed floors of a long narrow hallway in an obvious concealed hurry; it was possible that she was to meet someone at that hour or she just had to use to use the restroom; Eri had no educated-clue that could prove to aid her understanding of the whole situation whatsoever.

The shadows that slithered across the golden walls deemed to be both terrifying and eerie at the same time, very much to Eri's distaste. The silence was almost as tangible as her twins fear and excitement, Eri noted, and almost as visibly as the girl's lopsided—no doubt unfortunately love-sick—grin. There were no windows present, or at least visible in the dark, and a chilled air caused all of her hairs on her host's neck and arms to stand up.

 _Where am I? Is this some sort of dream or something?_ If Eri were in her own physical body or of a right mind, she would've turned back the other way instantly; she oddly couldn't though. Maybe it was the fact that she wasn't in control of a body or it was the off giddy feeling that course through her veins and ate at her heart that was at blame for the travel; either way, her walk turned to a jog as she continued traveling down the dark palace hallway.

Oh, Eri was well acquainted with a fraction of that feeling all right, she would always feel it whenever she thought of or was around Emi at all. It was a feeling that caused Eri to want to break all the rules Emi, to do anything for her. It was a feeling that made her stomach perform summersaults and her heart pound much faster than it was meant to. It was a feeling that made her want to murder anyone who ever glanced at Emi that way she did, or perhaps insult her directly or indirectly. In simple basic terms, it was a crush. If someone were to increase those feelings a hundredfold, however, it would blossom into love; something that most of her aunts and her mothers displayed every day at any free possible moment they had together with their beloveds.

Eri immediately felt extremely jealous of the girl, who had something she severely wanted. How long had she been fantasizing about having a happy and glorified romance . . . about snuggling into the safety of Emi's arms every night before they fell asleep together peacefully? How long had she desperately waited for that to occur, even though it never had, no matter how much she had prayed every night for it to do so? How long? Had it all begun with her fleeting crush on Emi or did the quest begin when she started to have a brief general idea of what pure true love was? Honestly, Eri reflected, the lines were too blurred for her to uncover the correct answer; it was practically impossible for her to do so without getting a splitting migraine.

"What are you doing out here, Princess Arcane?" a masculine voice hissed, and then pulled her physical body into his waiting arms. "Have you gone mad? What if your mother or guards found you rather than if I had? You know it isn't safe in these times of war."

"Hector, it hurt too much for me to bear to be away from you," Arcane whispered as she leaned into the embrace. She had a content smile on her face, despite Hector's warning of danger and discovery of their assumed secret tryst and her eyes gleaned with happiness. "I love you far too much to be separated for that long span of time."

"I missed you horribly too," Hector murmured as the shadows finally dissipated from his still form. Eri's eyes mentally went wide in a sudden shock. He and that boy that was staring at her earlier that week—she believes his name was Daisuke—were identical, with Hector adorning handsome garbs that were casually worn by Prince Endymion, only with the all of the red being replaced by a beautiful green shade. Hector smiled down at Arcane. "Just try to be more careful, alright? I don't know what I'd do if you had even gotten wounded in any given way."

 _They sound like they're imitating one of those stupid cheesy romance novels,_ Eri thought, slightly annoyed by the fact. Unlike her mother, Minako, she greatly despised anything that exploited romance falsely, which was most novels; Eri was more like her other mother, Rei, if she was concerned by any of it. She mentally groaned. If that were the case, then they were lucky that she _didn't_ have a body to release her temper. With her temper and tolerance for horrible cheesy romance novels things would surely catch on fire, to say the least; yes, they were truly fortunate that she didn't have a body to rage in; it probably wouldn't have been exactly thrilling for bystanders or the brunt of the impact and rant to experience at all. _I still raged to Kumiko and hurt her; she was my_ best _friend_.

Eri fought the urge to sob, even if she couldn't physically do so to begin with. She had been impulsive with her tongue yet again, and that, in all likelihood, had cost her a great price; it had possibly cost her best friend's friendship and acceptance and kindness. She wished that she could take back that moment and do it all over; she would honestly do it in a quick paced heartbeat. _Why did I have to do it? Why do I have to be so impulsive and cruel with my damn temperament issues? Why? Why did I have to do it? Why?_ Luckily for her, she had the conversation between Prince Hector and Princess Arcane to keep her occupied instead of continuing her previous string of negative thoughts.

"My subjects—they're attempting to begin a revolt again your kingdom," Hector said finally after a long awkward silence that clearly made him and Arcane uncomfortable, probably due to their given situation. "Their mistress is becoming more powerful as we speak; I don't think that it's safe for you to frequently visit me here any longer."

 _Isn't that what happened during the Silver Millennium, with Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion though? But why do they look different from how they're described in Mom and Mama's stories?_ Eri contemplated. The direction of her strange dream was becoming too familiar to her for some reason, but she couldn't exactly pinpoint it, much to her extreme disdain. _Why am I dreaming of this then?_

"Princess?" a voice—in which Eri realized sounded _almost_ exactly like hers; it was a little more mature sounded—called strongly, making her reason for lingering there clearly visible for two lovers to see. Her purpose in being there was sort of like the tangibility of the walls; it was slightly hard to see due to the shadows, but there nonetheless, Eri noted. "Where are you? We need to bring you back home; your mother wishes for you to be present there!"

Arcane merely paled visibly as the owner of the said voice spotted then in their hiding area after a few long and silent passing moments. Eri could easily feel the fear and anxiety roll off Arcane's aura in waves, for someone had discovered her trust. Eri could also sense the terror that was caused if she were to think about the consequences of the discovery; or had to be solely based off being banned to ever visiting Prince Hector again as his lover.

Once Eri came to gain sight of Arcane's guardian, she felt another pang of shock invade her whole being for the second time that hour, or however much time passed as she continued to go through with the experience. Arcane's guardian was Sailor Eros; she was Eri! Ironically, Arcane sucked in some air nervously, which was exactly what Eri would've dome at that exact moment of she had a body or any control over the one that she was watching from with, now, extreme interest.

"Princess, what are you doing with _him_?" Eros demanded with concern, anger, and shockingly disgust, visibly written across her pale features. She scowled deeply, her brows scrunching together as if in extreme deep thought; Eri assume that she was, since she was silent for an excessively delayed minute or two to come to pass. "You know that it's dangerous for you two be together; _he's_ dangerous for you to be even being around, especially in this period of pre-war! Don't you understand that important fact, Princess?"

"I understand that fully!" Arcane shot back with her eyes glistening with unshed tears, but Eri had a feeling that they were defiant ones rather than that of sorrow. "But I love him with every fiber of my being, just as you love with Valorous; you two are having a secret romance too, you know!"

Unrealistically, at the mention of the mysterious Valorous' name, Eros managed to keep up her intense scowl while blushing profusely and smiling giddily at the same time.

"Wait, they're having a—" Hector opened his mouth to make a comment on the topic—it could've possibly been out of perplexity, if his appearance proved Eri's suspicions of his thick skull to be correct—but he was cut off.

"Princess, Prince," she hissed as a large amount of footsteps echoed upon the crystal walls and flooring, indicating that they were nearing the hideout for Hector and Arcane's trust, "get out of here! I'll stall for as long as I have to ability to, just escape!"

Hector took a silently protesting Arcane in his arms and bolted from the area, which was just in time too, as their enemies began to draw closer into their line of vision and Eros turned to face the battle determinedly.

But then things began to become weirder as the scene started to alter its appearance until they were gone, thus interrupting his fortunately failed attempt and saving her from a large amount of tedious explanations.

Eri was shocked to find that she had control of her—no _Sailor Eros'_ —present body at that given moment. She would've whooped too, but the small fact of a long silvered hair man sitting across from her in a throne seemed to cease that thought right in its newly infant tracks. She realized that they were located in a palace's throne room, with shining obsidian walls and a floor of the same style, with a black silk carpet leading up to the dark themed throne. There was no windows that Eros was able to spot, she noticed, and there were shadowed outlines of three young man bowing beside the said throne; their faces were impossible for her to make out; sadly for her, that was most likely due to the darkness that danced across the walls and shrouded nearly everything that was furthest away in an eye's range and beyond even that. All those factors proved to _definitely_ not be her in slim favor; not by a long shot.

"I welcome you to my humble home, Sailor Eros," the strange man greeted smoothly, his hands placed over his lap formally, as if she were a colleague of his or something similar to that matter. Eros finally realized that he was wearing a black blazer, dress pants, pristine dress shoes; a white button down shirt, gloves, and a poppy red tie. He smiled charming at her. "It is such an _honor_ to finally communicate with you, although, it is rather unfortunate that I still can't uncover your civilian persona."

"Who the hell are you?" Eros demanded once more, not bother to bite back her tongue for mannerisms or respect. She felt a pure sudden righteous anger begin to rush through her veins like a flood breaking from a flimsy dam. What did this guy want with her? Did he give her that previous dream sequence? Did he want to harm her loved ones or she herself? Most importantly was he her true enemy; was he the one that it was her duty omit eliminate instantly for the good of Earth? "What do you want from me or this planet? Do you want the Legendary Silver Crystal? Answer me dammit!"

"I want many thing, yes," he replied with a brown raised curiously. "Of course, I'd love for you to realize _who_ you are warring against when you oppose me." He ran a hand through his hair. "I am Lord Sphene, the last leader of Chaos' forces, Sailor Eros, and I hope you do realize that you _will_ not prevail in defeating me; you most certainly will not, no matter how hard you battle and strategize, I assure you that I will _always_ turn out as the victor of the competition, battle, debate, or argument."

"You don't know that!" Eros shot back both angrily and defensively in unison. She didn't understand Sphene's arrogance at all, much less his underlying threat. It may have been her own slight arrogance speaking, but Eros was extremely confused on how he thought that _he_ could beat _her_ as easily as he bluffed he could. Eros' newly firming scowl deepened considerably. "I'm not as weak and helpless as you make me out to be!"

"You are weak in comparison to me," Sphene insisted, his eyes shining as if he were already starting to form an expertly executed master plan right then and there. "You do not seem to understand my advantages over you; I have the immense power of Chaos itself and reinforcements, you however, do not, sadly for your poor soon-to-be-obliterated-sake. But remember this, Eros, never allow confidence to overrule your logical decision; it will _surely_ be your downfall. I'd rather face a logical hard-working opponent, as opposed to an impulsive and rash one that failed to comprehend worthwhile decision-making skills that are essential towards life itself." He held his arm wrist out as if he were about to flick it. "Now it is time for you to awaken to reality. Goodbye for now, Sailor Eros."

Whilst irritated and insulted simultaneously, Eros went to protest valiantly, but was stopped as Sphene flicked his wrist elegantly and coolly, causing the predicament to fade into a black mass of nothingness as much as she clawed to return to her dreamland for more answers, then Eri awoke upright in sweat to the own comfort of her thankfully tranquil bedroom.

She stood shakily and stared at her form in a nearby mirror. Eri noted that she was much paler than usual, excreting more perspiration than she was naturally accustomed to, and looked quite green; the distant glassy look in her eyes seemed to seal the sickly appearance with a sick sense of grace and elegance, too. That only seemed to prove that she was her Rei's daughter; that was certainly evident—no _obvious_ —to the naked eye.

"Eri, you're finally awake!"

Out of nowhere, Aiko came stumbling into the room with a goofy, immature, and happy grin plastered across her face. She pulled Eri into a breath-stealing hug. If the strange man from her dream wasn't going to kill her off, then maybe the hug that she was receiving was, Eri reflected. She wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of going by a death-by-sisterly-affection, either. _I feel sort of bad about one of_

 _Mr. Chiba Mamoru's Four Kings of Heaven. If Mama's story is right, poor Nephrite had a death-by-flowers because of Auntie Mako; it must suck to be him in the afterlife. I mean seriously, all that teasing has to wear someone down after a while!_ Eri immediately snapped out of her thoughts as she recalled that a concerned Aiko was waiting for her to respond to her presence.

"You were tossing and turning in your sleep and you weren't reacting to Mommy or I when we tried to wake you up!" Aiko exclaimed. "And you looked like you were about to vomit; we were all worried! Mama is meditating right now to see if she could find a probably, but now that you're awake, she can stop and you can tell us what's up!"

 _I really shouldn't have worried them; they don't deserve to go through any of that stress._ Eri though as she stretched, then, being anything but discreet, she yawned loudly. After that dream, she was honestly exhausted. Her stomach rumbled thunderously, demanding to be fed instantly or unwanted consequences would be faced. Apparently, she was rather hungry at that moment too. "We can talk about the dream later; I just want to eat right now."

Aiko smiled brightly as her own stomach grumbled; in comparison to Eri's, its eager sound was quieter "Let's go them; Mommy and Mama are going to be so happy to see you alright, sis!"

 _Maybe, staying in dreamland may not be as good as reality, at times._ Eri now adorned a smile of equal, if not more, intensity. "Alright, let's go."

~O~O~O~O~

The breakfast—or snack, whatever one would like to call a semi-small meal eaten at five o'clock in the morning with one's intermediate family—had an awkward tension that could yet be rivaled by any of Eri's past family experience; it was worse than when Minako had tried to get her into idols and pop culture in front of Kumiko and Emi, and that event had left horrific scarring on both its spectators and participants, which was mainly caused by Minako's sanity probably at that time—at least, Eri had hoped that her mother _was_ insane at the time; if that were her normal sanity, then Eri would've surely been scared top, ironically, to the moon and beyond even that.

She knew that her parents were relieved that she wasn't harmed in any possibly way; they just weren't exactly showing it to her yet. Eri theorized that the awkwardness began after Aiko had mentioned her _most_ _lovely_ dream to their mothers. They had possibly thought that it was a premonition of sorts, as they knew about her heightened psychic abilities, especially Rei, given her current circumstances and abilities.

"Mom, Mama, I think it's time I shared my dream with you guys," Eri finally said, cutting through the thick tension easily, like a knife would slice through a soft stick of butter. "I think it was about the most recent enemy that had just appeared a few weeks ago; he's some arrogant guy that goes by the name, Lord Sphene."

"Great, now we have a male Beryl 2.0," Rei grumbled in discontent. She then straightened her posture and raised her voice as she spoke, "I haven't been getting visions in the fire of late; is it possible that the enemy is intercepting my gift?"

"We need to call the others." Minako stood abruptly, her stony face chiseled with determination. To the others, it would appear as if Sailor Venus had taken Minako's place, since there was such a drastic and quick attitude and personality change. "It's time that the Sailor Soldiers awaken to fight an evil once more."

"Like your stories of Serenity beating the shit out of that red-headed Witch-A-Bitch," Eri muttered under her breath. "And you and Mama destroying the mother-stealing ones too."

"Eri, no cursing!" Rei scolded with a scowl forming. "We have to think rationally about the enemy!"

"Yeah, bad big sis!" Aiko chimed in. "No cussing under your breath, only Mama is allowed to do that when she messes up something!"

Eri would've defiantly rolled her eyes and adverted her gaze to the ground if not for the fear that either of her mothers or younger sister were catch in the act and reprimand her further; it didn't exactly help that they were most likely in the most professional and worst possible mood known to mankind to ever be in. "Alright Mama; I'll stop cussing. You're—you're right about gathering the others though."

"Good," Rei said. She went to her communicator and activated it, connecting with everyone over it was the exception of Minako, respectively. "Guys" she swallowed, much unlike her causal cool-headed self. "Eri had a premonition of sorts; it was about our newest enemy."

"Yeah," Minako added grimly, "It's time for the Sailor Soldiers to finally return to make an appearance in Tokyo once again."

Even through the static that seemed to interfere with the call and the behind-the-times communicator, their facial expressions seemed to agree with her tone, as they seemed to be anything but happy about the prospect of another dangerous threat looming over the horizon. They had faced so much— _far_ too much—already, and Eri knew that; she just wished that she could do something about it to decrease their stress and aid them in any way possible. _I will defeat you, Sphene, you'll see. I will win for you, Emi, Kumiko, Mom, Mama, and Aiko; I will win, for everyone._

Eri blinked out of confusion as another though invaded her kind seemingly subconsciously. That single thought gave her an odd sense if déjà vu, as if she were there something extremely and important that she held close to her heart, she just couldn't quite recall it exactly; it was an extremely odd feeling that sent jolts down her spine, to say the least. Eri frowned and propped her elbows up, closing her eyes soundly while trying to make out what they thought—when decoded—truly meant.

 _And I will always fight and win for you, Princess._

* * *

A/N: So, finally, chapter/act three is up! I'm sorry for the unanticipated long wait, but word on my mobile phone mysteriously deleted the file. I was originally having this act to take a completely different turn, but everything happens for a reason.

And I'm sorry if Rei and Minako seemed OOC, but maturity and the the threat of a new enemy can do that to them. Even so, as always, I hope you all enjoyed this recent chapter, and if I hadn't said this previously, I _really_ love reviews!

~NeroJove


	4. Act Four: Emi, Sailor Bacchus, Pt One

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon . . . just sayin' . . . y'know, it's not like that's _obvious_ or anything . . .

* * *

Emi frowned as she adjusted the green and purple tuxedo that she wore. "Why do we have to go through with this again?"

Akemi—who was in a blue dress and adorning her glasses—thumbed through the thick leather-bound book that she was currently reading; no doubt it was on mythology of some sorts. "Other than for Mother's job obligations, I have no clue."

"I don't know why _we_ have to do this though," Akira grumbled. "Mother could've just said that she had no kids and was single, then call it a day!"

"You know that Mother isn't one to deceive, Akira," Akemi answered earnestly. "She and Mom are very proud of us; I believe that she wants to show us off."

Emi cast her gaze to the plane's window. "Maybe, but that doesn't make it fair to us or our sanity, we'll end up—"

"—dying from boredom!" Akira finished.

It may have just been solely Emi's imagination, but she thought she had seen a shadow or two pass by their row of seats in the corner of her eye; that had been happening as of late. Her frown deepened considerably. _Why do I keep seeing shadows lately? Did Eri see that in the Crown Arcade, and was that the thing that freaked her out so much?_

"Sis, are you alright?" Akira asked. "You suddenly got this weird look on your face," a pause and turn to Akemi, "Huh, maybe she was thinking of Eri or something . . ."

Akemi and Akira rudely began to break out into discreet quiet fits of laughter at their sister's blazing cheeks and small grin that was starting to cause her curve her lips to curl up in the most hilarious of times; they were so appalled by its humor, that they couldn't cease their laughter.

Emi's eyes fell to the ground as she began to smile casually. They loved to elicit reactions like that out of her whoever they got to chance to, with Akira being to one to do it _far_ more than Akemi ever did in the past. She could tease her brother about Aiko, as they tended to cause him to fluster and shut up; Akemi had no possible object of her affections at the time. Her eyes glinted with mischievousness. If Akemi did, however, that would mean a whole new world of teasing optionsfor her; they would definitely be amusing for her to test out. She scowled, coming back to reality and her siblings' laughter. "Hey, cut it out you guys; that's so not cool!"

Akira smirked childishly; he seemed to be that as of late. "Never!"

Akemi groaned and went back to her back. She muttered, "Imbeciles."

"Hey!" Emi and Akira cried out indignation, waving their arms madly as if to prove their dislike of their sister's previous accusation. "We aren't imbeciles, Akemi!"

"Yes," Akemi pointed out stonily, "You are."

They were glaring at each other intensely, obviously abhorred by each of their respective opposing opinions.

"Are not!"

"You both _so_ are; my studies of both of your sleep patterns theoretically prove it!"

"Wait, hold up for second, so _that_ was the reason there was goop on my head a few years back?" Emi asked, astounded. She was sure her eyes a bulging out by then. "That gross stuff was _yours_?"

"I don't remember any of that," Akira stated coolly, as if he forgot his earlier burst of outrage. "But that sounds awesome!"

Emi scowled intensely in Akemi's direction. "Once you wake up with it all in your hair on a day full of picture-taking, you'll understand my grief."

"Emi," Akemi said amusedly, "I'm fairly sure that it's impossible for _anyone_ to understand whatever occurs in your head; I know I cannot complete with such a feat."

Emi huffed and crossed her arms, facing the plane's window idly. She could briefly her mother, Makoto complaining to her other mother, Ami, in a terrified manner in the row of seats in front of her and her siblings, but couldn't relate. She never had any fear of planes; that didn't mean she enjoyed them thoroughly though. Her thought came back to Akemi and Akira. _Yeah, I_ really _need to find out any_ _crushes of theirs whenever they have one._

~O~O~O~O~

Kumiko frowned as her eyes darted from side to side on the barren Tokyo suburban street. Large mansion-like houses lined them, and a few high-class profiles passed her, giving her slight nods of acknowledgement as they went by. Of course, the sightings of these rich residents began to wane as time went on, most likely due to the fact that it was getting darker and darker as the day progressed; it was around evening at the time she was walking at the current moment.

Her own house was as large as the ones in the neighborhood she was strolling down, if not larger than those. She sighed. Eri—Kumiko's best friend despite her temper problems—had no clue of her well-hidden secret. She wasn't gay, which wasn't exactly a bad thing, or a closet-jerk or anything like that; she believed that her position was almost as easy as those previous were to hide. Her family was, as odd as she would sound for it, unfortunately filthy rich.

Kumiko despised being rich; she would normally sound like a freak for merely thinking of that forbidden thought, but she had her reasons. She would always be tested differently if people knew; that was one of the worst things ever. It was almost like being a pop idol; most people just wanted to be a friend to the status, not the person. Kumiko frowned. She knew Eri wouldn't particularly care for her status, but she knew that her mother, Minako, definitely would.

Kumiko sighed. Her fight with Eri a while back certainly proved to put a dent on their friendship. She didn't want to lost her friend; she'd even tolerate that temper of it meant saving it.

" _Kumiko, why can't you act calm for once? It's so aggravating!"_

She buried her head into her hands at the memory of Eri's cruel words freshly rung in her ears, allowing tears to brim the corners of her eyes. As mean as her friend could be at times, Kumiko was certain that she didn't truly mean it; she had faith in Eri.

"Oi, you alright?" a voice questioned. "Because you don't really look like it."

"I'm fine." Kumiko muttered while stray tears threatened to spill. She came to recognize the owner of the voice to be her school's newest transfer student, Kitano Kaede. From what she remembered, they had been friends since they were five; they met in their second years of grade school; they were enrolled at their clearly different respective schools at the time. At her friend's inspecting suspicious gaze, she smiled falsely. "Look, see; I'm doing just fine, seriously!"

Kaede made a face. "You know you don't look like it, right? You look like someone who just had their heartbroken by terms of adultery."

"I'm fine, Kaede," Kumiko sniffled. "Really, I am."

"And I'm a full blown idiot." Kaede scoffed at the notion. She flipped some of her silky hair over her uniform-clad shoulder. "Yeah, right. You and I both know that's a complete foolish lie. Tell the actual truth for once, will you?"

"Eri's temper had gotten the best of her and we fought; she had a few choice words to say to me," Kumiko admitted solemnly. "We haven't been talking for a while; I really miss her."

"She's says terrible things about you due to her temper," Kaede sounded like she couldn't believe what she was hearing, "And you _miss_ her?"

"I do, a lot." Kumiko nodded slowly, her gaze becoming sentimental. "Despite how she acts at times, Eri's still my friend no matter what."

"You're far too loyal for your own good, Kumiko," Kaede grumbled under her breath.

Kumiko smiled. "And besides, I have to get over our fight sooner or later; I have to go to a party with my mom and dad for a hospital-thing. If anything, I can't really afford to be upset over it; I have to be the little socialite they raised me to be, there."

Kaede suddenly froze, and then paled. "I, um, have to go; see you soon!"

Kumiko frowned as her friend made her leave. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Something was off, and she knew it, too; she just ignored it. Getting to her home at the moment was a tad bit more important than pursuing some unexplainable feeling, though she knew that Eri would wholeheartedly disagree on the notion of her priorities.

But now, Kumiko couldn't seem to stop the tears from falling at the thought of her seemingly-lost temperamental best friend that she cared for with every fiber of her somber essence and whole sorrowful being.

~O~O~O~O~

Frowning internally, Eri swept the steps of the Hikawa Shrine with vigor. That say had not been going her way at all, to say the least. She and Aiko were forced to take up extra chores as of late, since her mothers had to plan for their upcoming Sailor Meeting; she hated it. _If I hadn't had that damn dream,_ she thought glumly, _and then maybe I wouldn't have to do all these stupid chores around the shrine and apartment with Aiko nagging me every two seconds!_

"Hey, sis," Aiko began, startling Eri into jumping out of shock, "People were talking about being gay at school. What's being gay; is that like Mama and Mommy or something? But, isn't that normal, to be together with someone if you love them?"

Eri sighed. She knew that they'd have the conversation sooner later; she opted the for later rather than sooner option. Apparently, though, fate had felt that it wants to defy her desires once again in the lost suspecting ways possible; she despised when it tended to do that. "Well, um, being gay is when you like someone of the same gender—nothing's wrong with that; you know that I'm a bisexual myself and all, like Mom is."

"What's being bisexual?" Aiko cocked get head to the side immaturely, much like she was at that very moment. At Eri's scrutinizing gaze, she began to become defense over her obviously shown ignorance. Her face went red with embarrassment, and her cheeks puffed out humorously. "Hey, I've never grown up knowing these things, even though I've lived with it my entire life. Geez, Eri!"

Eri groaned. If there was anything she never wanted to be the one to explain to her sister, it had to be a long lesson on the LGBT community, despite that she and her mothers were _definitely_ a part of it; there was no doubt about _that_. She internally scolded herself. _I_ had _to be the one to bring that up! Seriously, I must be going insane or something like that! Yeah, insanity—that_ has _to be it._

Aiko's brows furrowed together, as if she were in a mockingly-deep thought, rather than a serious one. "Its's when someone likes boys and girls both, right?"

Eri nodded slowly. So, she didn't have to tell her sister in length, did she? She was certainly silently rejoicing at the revelation; no embarrassment for her. "Yeah, it is," an elongated pause and raised brow to entertain to the notion of amusement, "How did you know what that means if you have no idea what any of these terms are, anyway? You keep acting like you're a stupid blonde or something; I know you're not, but one can only question—"

"I'm not stupid!" Aiko cut off, flustered. "And stop being so grumpy! I know you hate doing these chores and you miss Emi a lot, but still!"

Eri huffed. She felt her cheeks burning, and she wasn't happy about the fact that it was visible for all to see, at all. She panicked. "Well, I—uh . . ."

"Have a huge crush?" a voice laughed. "Don't worry; I used to do that myself—more so in my younger years, actually—too."

Both Eri and Aiko alike jumped from the sudden intrusion.

Eri realized that it was the girl that she ran into that previous day, Kuroki Miyuki. Honestly, she didn't want to spend much time with the taller girl; she was a bit . . . _off_. Eri didn't know how to describe it exactly; possibly it had more to do with Miyuki's aura's blackness over personality, thoughts or actions if anything. Unfortunately, though, she couldn't quite place her finger on it.

"But, you don't need to call your sister stupid because of your frustrations," Miyuki finished. She had her arms crossed lazily, as if just to look cool; Eri believed that, at least. Miyuki smirked. "Though, there might be other reasons you might want t to call your sister a "dumb blonde"."

"Hey!" Aiko protested, sticking her tongue out at Miyuki. "I am _so_ not stupid, stupid!"

Miyuki winked, much unlike she normally would. "Point proved right there."

"So not cool, person!" Red faced and fuming, Aiko huffed and stomped off. She was being extremely childish, if Eri had anything to say at all on the matter; she happened to have had a lot, but was forced to herself to hit her tongue in honor of respect, even though it was one of the hardest things that she had ever done in her life.

"Talk about immature." Miyuki frowned. She looked into the direction of which Aiko departed to. Her frowned seemed to deepen considerably; it was last me she was contemplating something extremely important, if not _essential_ , for her to complete. "I can't stand people like that."

Eri glared dangerously. "That's my _sister_ you're talking about."

"You know, in the future," Miyuki's gaze became distant as she completely ignored Eri's previous underlying threat that was most likely empty, "You need to train to prepare for something that could prove to possibly become a potential threat."

In the parallel world of understatement, Eri was merely confused. What did Miyuki mean by 'preparing for something that could prove to possibly become a potential threat in the future', she wondered, and why would she bother to say such things to her outright? She just couldn't wrap her mind around the strangeness of it all.

As Miyuki disappeared from the shrine grounds, Eri groaned inwardly. She needed to beg her parents to go to that party in Kyoto that Emi was attending. She snorted at the notion. As if Eri would be able to go there; her mothers would make it impossible for her to do so.

Though, she mused disappointedly, there was still the task of calming down Aiko, and she _really_ didn't want to be forced to do it.

~O~O~O~O~

Emi officially hated parties.

The room, though extremely large, felt stuffy in comparison to the comfort of her family's apartment. The people, with the exception of her mothers and Akemi—not really Akira—were all extremely annoying; they continued to bump into her despite her tall frame, and she hated being present there at those exact moments with a passion.

Emi groaned as she poured herself a drink—hopefully water. Despite being strictly-business oriented, she noted that there were many people there—some under the adult age of twenty—binge drinking and partying madly; she was glad that her mothers and siblings weren't involved in the unfortunate fray of law-breaking imbeciles, in her opinion, and she herself wasn't, either.

She took a sip, and her nose wrinkled in disgust. Emi knew that water didn't take like what she was drinking, and her vision began to blur after a few moments; it had to be alcohol. But how did someone switch out her drink? She was sure that she had taken water, wasn't she? Emi blinked. She could briefly see others in the background, but the person that stood before her had her full and complete attention, even if she _did_ happen to be slightly intoxicated.

It was a young woman who looked in approximately her late teenage years; she appeared to be around seventeen-years old. Her twin cotton-candy pig-tailed buns fell to the ground, and so did the green gown. She could've sworn that she had seen it before, an extremely long time ago, possibly. _Huh, if it weren't green but rather white, it would've passed as the Serenity of this universes' dress!_

Emi rubbed her temple warily. She didn't know anyone by the name of Arcane, did she? And why was she seeing and thinking absurd things now of all times? Was she drunk or something, or was she just going insane?

 _Giggling, a young child—possibly the young woman in the past—ran through a green meadow closely. Behind her, stood a towering jade palace lined with gold; it was obviously created for the highest ranking of royals. Her soft cerulean eyes was laughing, and rightfully so, as she seemed to be playing a game outdoors with another child._

Emi froze. Why did this seem familiar for her, and why did she feel an instant connection with a woman and child that she didn't even know? She recognized that environment too; she just couldn't place her finger on where she saw it before.

 _The child that followed the other one was creepily identical to Emi. Her blue eyes sparkled in the sun that was shining in the overhead. She looked around eleven-years old, if anything were to be said, and she wore a determined expression that equally matched her precise movements._

" _Valorous," the first girl squealed as she tackled the second girl—Valorous, if Emi was correct, "I win!"_

 _Valorous groaned. "You only win once, got it, Arcane?"_

 _Arcane grinned cheekily; she was definitely an adorable six or seven-year old. "Finally, you admit it!"_

 _Valorous stared at the sun. "Why do I even put up with you?"_

" _Because I'm a princess!" Arcane smiled goofily. "And we're best friends!"_

Emi held her head. She knew that she didn't drink so much to feel such effects; her underage drinking was purely accidental and light, and they were also probably the cause of her odd vision and hallucination.

"Emi, are you doing alright?" Ami—one of her mothers—asked softly. "You look as if you're going to pass out."

Emi frowned. She forced herself to regain her balance, even though her vision with blurry and she felt as if she could fall over any moment. Her frown deepened. Even with her distorted vision, she could see that her mother and the rest of the crowd were experiencing the same symptoms. "I'm fine," a pause, "Don't worry, Mother."

"Alright, but if you need me tell me, alright?" Ami nodded slowly before walking off.

"Alright everyone, settle down!" a voice ordered amidst the loud drunken chatter. The owner of the voice—a young man no older than the age of seventeen—was frowning despite the positive tone in his voice; Emi knew that he was faking the tolerance for the crowd. "We're going to have a few contests for the most energetic person in the room! Is everyone prepared?"

Emi groaned. The last thing she wanted to do was to go through with any physical activities, given her current somatic state; all she wanted to do was sit down and stare watch _anime_ or read _manga_ for the entire rest of the day.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two people—a girl in a plain black dress, and the other a male in a tuxedo—staring at him in disdain like he were their enemy of some sorts; Emi could feel their animosity for him from where she was standing.

"Emi, I 'wanna go home," Akira mumbled by her side. He was rubbing his eyes tiredly, and she wouldn't be shocked if he was. "I don't like it here."

"Me neither," Emi said solemnly. "Something isn't right . . ."

"That man," Akemi began, appearing in between them groggily, "Something about his posture is extraordinarily off; I don't have confidence in that he has healthy thoughts about either us or the rest of the crowd."

"Yeah." Akira dragged Akemi off to the nearest corner to sleep, in which she obediently obliged. "Now I 'wanna sleep."

Akemi yawned loudly; under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have normally done that, but that moment was an abrupt exception. "Agreed."

Emi scowled as the dozed off the sleep together. They were right about that guy, she noted, and she needed to do something about it to protect her family; her other mother directly raised her into fiercely believing that, if she had the power, she should always defend those she held dear, no matter what. Emi adjusted the gloves that she wore. She wasn't going to sit around and wait for someone else to do it; she needed to act _now_ , not later, after all.

Emi immediately went to take cover as a tremor shook the ball room. _Apparently_ , she thought, _I don't have to wait for my time to shine, do I?_

~O~O~O~O~

"Your, Valo—no, _Emi_ —friend is in grave danger."

"How can I trust you?" Eri glared at the white cat in front of her. "All you do is tell me stuff, and then run away to some random place!"

Selene grimaced. "I assure you that it would only be one time; it won't happen again—"

"It's two, actually!" Eri snapped; she had gotten to be under a lot of stress ever since that first Youma visited her; it just so happened to be that she was unfortunately under a lot extra stress that particular day. "Remember that time you left after I first transformed? I was, like, five right?"

"Six, actually," Selene muttered under his breath. "But you have to trust me right now of all times! I swear on the Moon Princess and Earth Prince's life that my Intel and I aren't lying! Please trust me, for your friend, at least!"

Eri played with her hands; her face was gradually getting redder as the minutes passed by quickly. "Alright. Just for Emi."

"You'll need a faster way to get there," someone in the shadows said, "And I can provide it."

Eri looked over. "Who are you?"

"I am Sailor Regulus." Regulus walked out of the darkness. "Sailor Eros, Selene is right; your friend _is_ in definite danger. You need to transform."

"Wait, hold up!" Eri's eyes narrowed. "How do you know?"

"I know many things," Regulus said. "Like how you need to transform now!"

"Alright," Eri grumbled. She didn't quite understand why she trusted Regulus so quickly, nor why she was about to oblige to her request. She shook off the strange feeling in her gut and raised her transformation stick. "Eros Asteroid Power, Make-Up!"

Regulus raised her gloved hand, and a vortex appeared, shocking Sailor Eros but not the cat that was beside her. "This should lead you to Kyoto. Now, hurry!"

"You're not coming with me?" Eros asked. "Why?"

"Reasons," Regulus replied wearily. The energy that was draining from her to hold that portal seemed to really be taking a toll on her. "Just go!"

Eros nodded and leaped through the portal.

 _If only you knew the truth,_ Selene smiled and hopped off into the vortex; making sure that he was behind his young charge, _about your friend and Valorous._

~O~O~O~O~

In all truth, Emi was terrified. She had never dealt with a giant human-bull that breathed fire, and why _should_ she have to in her lifetime? Didn't she have enough problems with crushes and school, much less human-eating monstrosities?

Emi swallowed. She had no idea what to do. Her family—and innocents as well—were in danger because of some satanic demon-thing, and she was plain out terrified.

It appeared to be an evil hybrid of a bull and human, with its black and brown fur, the fact that it stood on its hind legs, its beady red eyes, the ring that pierced its animalistic nose, and the wooden club that it held; she thought that it looked a lot like the Minotaur from Greek mythology.

The man that had changed from his tuxedo to an odd set of robes while she was distracted and his facial expression was visibly blank; there was a glint of insanity in his eyes emerald eyes. "Sailor Eros, I know you're here somewhere; show yourself!"

Emi paled. She, like every other person in Japan, knew who the Sailor Soldiers were; they were apart of Japanese history, the way they saved Tokyo's residents multiple times in the past. She was always curious on why they stopped appearing; she always thought that they were stationed in another universe to fight a greater evil, as a kid.

Emi realized that all the teenage and children—excluding her—were unconscious, and some of the younger-looking adults were beginning to fall too. She felt groggy, but she didn't pass out like the others did? Why? Was she special or something?

Emi's eyes fell upon a girl who was in a comatose state nearby. Her glasses had fallen off, and her cinnamon colored dress was wrinkled. Through the sheet of brown hair that covered her face, Emi could tell that was Eri's best friend, Kumiko. She had never been close to the girl, but she knew how the revelation would affect her friend, and she began to feel angry.

Emi couldn't allow someone she cared about to feel sorrow; she swore she'd never. She stood—albeit weakly—and glared at the strange beast and young man. She _couldn't_ allow that to happen; she'd work to make everyone around her happy until her final breath. "Hey," she shouted over to the Minotaur—who was hovering over a small child at the time—with a determined expression, "Hammy, over here; pick on someone your own size!"

The Minotaur turned its head slowly in Emi's direction, and then it lunged. She was pinned down by the Youma, and began to perspire nervously. _This is it; I'm as good as dead, right now . . ._

"Hold it right there!" a person announced firmly. "You won't _ever_ touch Emi again! I am the Soldier of Mystery; Sailor Eros is on the scene!" Sailor Eros made herself known to a shocked Emi. "And as my current rank, and for the Asteroid 433 Eros, I will punish you, Youma scum! Now, Eros Resistant Charm!"

The Youma stared at the red beam that was flying towards it; then it was disintegrated by that same offensive attack.

"You've finally arrived, Eros." The man descended down the ball room's crystal steps smoothly. At her slight surprised jump, his lips began to curl up into a smile. "If you do not know me already, I am one of the Generals of Chaos, Alexandrite."

Eros glared. "You work for that Sphene guy, don't you?"

"Lord Sphene is my master . . . but not the one I serve," Alexandrite said coolly. "But enough of that. My mission is to end your existence, and I plan to do that now. Say goodbye to your life, Sailor Eros of Asteroid 433 Eros!" He raised his arm and grinned insanely. "Dark Power Strike!"

"Eros!" Selene cried in a corner as a large beam of darkness neared the Sailor Soldier.

 _Arcane smiling happily at Valorous . . . a shadowed girl in an older Valorous' arms . . ._

 _No! I can't let her get hurt because of me!_ Emi's eyes went wide, and she immediately stood up. She briefly felt something burn on her forehead, but otherwise felt nothing because of the numbness she currently felt. _I can't let her die because of me!_

"No way," Selene muttered. "It's her . . ."

 _A laughing girl . . . the flash of a red and black gown in a jade palace . . ._

"It won't let you hurt her!" Emi's eyes narrowed in Alexandrite's direction as a foreign pen materialized in her hand. She raised her arms. Her eyes glowed with the intensity of her raw hatred and power. "Bacchus Planet Power, Make-Up!"

* * *

A/N: Who knew that working on a laptop would be more productive than doing so on a phone? I sure didn't. But, d'you 'wanna know what I love more than cliffhangers?

Reviews.

~NeroJove


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